Background: Nutritional care for older adults provided by hospital and home care nurses and nursing assistants is suboptimal. This is due to several factors including professionals' lack of knowledge and low prioritisation. Affecting these factors may promote nurses' and nursing assistants' behavioral change and eventually improve nutritional care. To increase the likelihood of successfully targeting these factors, an evidence-based educational intervention is needed. Objectives: To develop an educational intervention for hospital and home care nurses and nursing assistants to promote behaviour change by affecting factors that influence current behaviour in nutritional care for older adults. In this paper, we describe the intervention development process. Design: A multi-methods approach using literature and expert input. Settings: Hospital and home care. Participants: Older adults, nurses, nursing assistants, experts, and other professionals involved in nutritional care. Methods: The educational intervention was based on five principles: 1) interaction between intervention and users, 2) targeting users on both individual and team level, 3) supporting direct and easy transfer to the workplace, and continuous learning, 4) facilitating learning within an appropriate period, and 5) fitting with the context. Consistent with these principles, the research team focussed on developing a microlearning intervention and they established consensus on seven features of the intervention: content, provider, mode of delivery, setting, recipient, intensity, and duration. Results: The intervention consisted of 30 statements about nursing nutritional care for older adults, which nurses and nursing assistants were asked to confirm or reject, followed by corresponding explanations. These can be presented in a snack-sized way, this means one statement per day, five times a week over a period of six weeks through an online platform. Conclusions: Based on a well-founded and comprehensive procedure, the microlearning intervention was developed. This intervention has the potential to contribute to nursing nutritional care for older adults.
Background: Interprofessional collaboration in practice (IPCP) between professionals from the medical and social domain within primary care is desirable; however, it is also challenging due to fragmented healthcare. Little is known about the development of IPCP in primary care to fit the implementation context. is article describes the methodological development and the final content of an IPCP program. Methods and findings:e development process started with the identification of IPCP competencies in a literature review and a qualitative needs analysis with semi-structured interviews among eight elders and four healthcare professionals. e results were discussed during a first consultation with an expert team, which consisted of ten healthcare professionals. Consensus was reached on the themes role identity, communication, and shared vision development to form the basis of the program. A second consultation with the experts discussed the first version of the program. en, consensus was reached on the final version of the program, which included a blended learning approach consisting of two face-to-face meetings, online learning, and on-the-job learning with a sixteen-hour time investment over a six-week period. Conclusions: e IPCP program was developed based on educational strategies and evidence, and with the support and knowledge of practice experts to fit the implementation context.
Perceptions and values of care professionals are critical in successfully implementing technology in health care. The aim of this study was threefold: (1) to explore the main values of health care professionals, (2) to investigate the perceived influence of the technologies regarding these values, and (3) the accumulated views of care professionals with respect to the use of technology in the future. In total, 51 professionals were interviewed. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was applied. All care professionals highly valued being able to satisfy the needs of their care recipients. Mutual inter-collegial respect and appreciation of supervisors was also highly cherished. The opportunity to work in a careful manner was another important value. Conditions for the successful implementation of technology involved reliability of the technology at hand, training with team members in the practical use of new technology, and the availability of a help desk. Views regarding the future of health care were mainly related to financial cut backs and with a lower availability of staff. Interestingly, no spontaneous thoughts about the role of new technology were part of these views. It can be concluded that professionals need support in relating technological solutions to care recipients' needs. The role of health care organisations, including technological expertise, can be crucial here.