Improving Quality of Care Through Detection of Complexity Amongst Older People in a Community Setting: Pragmatic Randomised Controlled Trial Protocol.

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Complexity of health conditions and healthcare status in geriatrics; Public Health - Health service research

• Registration Number: ACTRN12619001014145
• Lead Sponsor: Jennifer Boak

Brief Summary

Not available

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Results First Posted: 1900-01-01
• Study Start: 2019-07-15
• Study Completion: 2020-10-30
• Last Update Posted: 3 April 2023

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 107

Inclusion Criteria

The inclusion criteria are new referrals of patients aged 65 and over and meet the criteria for Commonwealth home support program (CHSP) funded services. This criteria is that the care is delivered to support the client to remain in their home and active in the community. Recently discharged patients falling under the episodic Post-Acute-Care (PAC) will be included if they require continuing care which is eligible for CHSP funding.
All Registered Nurses employed as District Nurses in the community nursing service and are assigned to perform new patient assessment during the trial period will be included. Assessments will be those performed during weekdays as those occurring on weekends are invariably Post Acute Care episodic care that are not eligible for CHSP funded care.

Exclusion Criteria

Exclusions will be patients referred for specific episodic care such as anti-coagulant therapy or eye drops post-eye surgery. Patients who are due for follow up and re-assessment during the trial period will also be excluded. Nurse participation is voluntary therefore, assessments completed by a nurse who declines to participate in the study will not be considered. The relationship with the nurse, other staff and the organisation will not be affected by their decision.

Study & Design

• Study Type: Interventional
• Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Detected patient complexity as assessed by nurses using low, moderate or high. 3 point Likert scale,: low (1), medium (2) or High (3). study-specific questionnaire.[data is collected at the point of initial assessment for each client. ]

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Interventions (care tasks) allocated to clients using a drop down box including medication support, wound care, referrals & Liaison, hygiene and other as options to select. this is a composite secondary outcome. This is assessed using a study specific questionnaire.<br>analysis will be conducted using comparison Chi-square between control and intervention <br>[data is collected at the point of initial assessment for each client. ];time allocated to client care. this is assessed using the predetermined (service data base) time allocated to each task which is added together to determine total time. <br>analysis will be conducted using Linear regression analysis will be performed for total time allocated to patients as the dependent variable <br>[data is collected at the point of initial assessment for each client. ]