Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders (NICHE) program improves older adult care, safety, prevents falls, reduces unnecessary medication intake, and helps healthcare providers care for patients with dementia, according to the study published in the journal The Gerontologist. The NICHE program at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing is a nurse-led education and consultation program designed to help healthcare organizations improve the quality of care for older adults.
‘NICHE program is promising, but more research assessing patient outcomes and the impact on healthcare professionals is required to better help healthcare organizations meet their goals.’
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When member organizations--which include hospitals, long-term care facilities, and other healthcare facilities--join the NICHE program, they gain access to clinical education and resources, guidelines, and nursing practice models designed to improve nurses' abilities to provide patient- and family-centered care for older adults. Read More..
To date, there are 580 acute care hospitals and nursing homes that are NICHE program members in the United States, Singapore, Canada, and Bermuda.
"Nurses are at the forefront of providing care to complex older adults in the United States and many countries around the world," said Mattia Gilmartin, PhD, RN, FAAN executive director of the NICHE program at NYU Meyers.
"The NICHE program emphasizes education and practice development for front-line clinical staff through leadership training, mentorship, and educational programming, which promotes the role of the clinician as paramount to implementing high-quality care."
In the new study published in The Gerontologist, the researchers reviewed existing research on the NICHE program to better understand how the program influences patient outcomes, nursing professionals, and the work environment.
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Using a content analysis, the researchers identified four thematic categories in the research: specialized older adult care, the geriatric resource nurse model, work environment, and NICHE program adoption and refinement.
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The studies showed how the NICHE program helps member sites improve the care of hospitalized older adults by addressing issues specific to this population including falls, potentially inappropriate medications, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, and dementia symptom management.
Another theme that emerged was the geriatric resource nurse model, which assists nurses in becoming unit-based leaders through continuing education in order to provide specialized care of older adults.
Research showed that implementing the geriatric resource nurse model resulted in significant culture changes within organizations and improved nursing knowledge about specific health issues in older adults, including incontinence and sepsis.
To measure the geriatric nurse work environment, studies looked at perceptions of the quality of care, aging-sensitive care delivery, resource availability, institutional values, and capacity for collaboration. Research shows that after implementation of the NICHE program, these factors improve.
"In the face of a robust increase in the number of older adults globally, which is projected to continue to rise sharply over the next 50 years, organizational stressors will only increase. The evidence on NICHE program is promising, though more research examining patient outcomes and the impact on healthcare professionals is needed to better help healthcare organizations to meet their goals and improve outcomes for older adults," said Allison Squires, PhD, RN, FAAN, associate professor at NYU Meyers and the study's lead author.
"In light of the growing needs in the U.S. and around the world, it has never been more important for NICHE and other programs geared toward improving health outcomes for older adults to have strong evidence on how to empower geriatric specialists to provide the best care," said Catherine D'Amico, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, director of programs and operations at the NICHE program at NYU Meyers and one of the study's authors.
Source-Eurekalert