LSB Faculty of Nursing

Purpose: No studies have explored the experiences of Canadian mechanical ventilator-assisted adolescents (VAAs) living at home as they transition from paediatric to adult health providers. A better understanding of the needs of this growing population is essential to provide transition services responsive to VAAs and caregiver-identified needs. Methods: We conducted semistructured telephone interviews with adolescents and family caregivers who had recently initiated or completed transition to adult care recruited from three Canadian university-affiliated paediatric home ventilation programs. We analyzed transcripts using a theoretical framework for understanding facilitators and barriers to transition. Results: We interviewed 18 individuals representing 14 episodes of paediatric to adult transition. Participants identified early planning, written informational materials and joint paediatric-adult provider-family transition meetings as facilitators of care transition to adult services and providers. Barriers included insufficient information, limited access to interprofessional (nursing and allied health) providers and reduced funding or health services. Barriers resulted in service disruption and a sense of 'medical homelessness'. While most families related a positive transition to a new 'medical home', families caring for VAAs with moderate-to-severe cognitive and/or physical dependence more commonly reported transition difficulties. Conclusions: Important opportunities exist to enable improvements in the transition experiences of VAAs and their family caregivers. To maximize service continuity during paediatric to adult transition, future research should focus on transition navigator roles, interprofessional health outreach and the needs of families caring for VAAs with cognitive and physical deficits.

Critically ill patients frequently experience severe agitation placing them at risk of harm. Physical restraint is common in intensive care units (ICUs) for clinician concerns about safety. However, physical restraint may not prevent medical device removal and has been associated with negative physical and psychological consequences. While professional society guidelines, legislation, and accreditation standards recommend physical restraint minimization, guidelines for critically ill patients are over a decade old, with recommendations that are non-specific. Our systematic review will synthesize evidence on physical restraint in critically ill adults with the primary objective of identifying effective minimization strategies. Two authors will independently search from inception to July 2016 the following: Ovid MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, PROSPERO, Joanna Briggs Institute, grey literature, professional society websites, and the International Clinical Tr...

Approximately 5 to 10% of critically ill patients transition from acute critical illness to a state of persistent and in some cases chronic critical illness. These patients have unique and complex needs that require a change in the clinical management plan and overall goals of care to a focus on rehabilitation, symptom relief, discharge planning, and in some cases, end-of-life care. However, existing indicators and measures of care quality, and tools such as checklists, that foster implementation of best practices, may not be sufficiently inclusive in terms of actionable processes of care relevant to these patients. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review is to identify the processes of care, performance measures, quality indicators, and outcomes including reports of patient/family experience described in the current evidence base relevant to patients with persistent or chronic critical illness and their family members. Two authors will independently search from inception to No...

Several studies have explored the experience of ventilator-assisted individual (VAIs) living at home with family caregivers. However, few explore the experiences of these individuals as they transition from a hospital setting to living at home with a view to identifying modifiable processes that could optimize transition. This descriptive, qualitative study sought to elucidate barriers to, and facilitators of, transition to home mechanical ventilation (HMV) from the perspective of Canadian VAIs and their family caregivers. Participant recruitment occurred through hospital and community respiratory clinicians based in the four Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, and Saskatchewan. Semi-structured telephone or face-to-face interviews at home were undertaken with 33 individuals including 19 VAIs and 14 family caregivers between 3 to 24 months of transitioning to HMV. Interview data was analyzed using content analysis. Formal teaching of knowledge and skills relevan...

To assess feasibility of producing intelligible and comprehensible speech with an electrolarynx; measure anxiety, communication ease, and satisfaction before/after electrolarynx training; and identify barriers/facilitators. We included tracheostomized adults from 3 units following commands, reading English, and mouthing words. On enrolment, we measured anxiety, ease, and satisfaction with communication. We gave electrolarynx instruction for ≤5 days then 2 independent raters assessed intelligibility, sentence comprehensibility (9-point difficulty scale), and Electrolarynx Effectiveness Score (EES), and re-evaluated anxiety, communication ease, and satisfaction. Interviews explored barriers/facilitators. We recruited 24 participants (Jan2015-Dec2016). Mean (SD) intelligibility was 45%(18%) words correct: 57%(21%) when facing. Mean comprehension difficulty was 6.4(2.0) overall, indicating moderate difficulty (5.5(2.5) scored visualizing). Mean EES was 2.9(1.0) (3 = improved lip-reading...

Background Recently immigrated and ethnic minority patients in Ontario, Canada are more likely to receive aggressive life-prolonging treatment at the end of life in comparison to other patients. To explore this finding further, this survey-based observational study aimed to evaluate satisfaction with the quality of end-of-life care for patients from diverse ethnocultural backgrounds. Methods The End-of-Life Satisfaction Survey was used to measure satisfaction with the quality of inpatient end-of-life care from the perspective of next-of-kin of recently deceased patients at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Ontario (between March 2012 to May 2019). The primary outcome was the global rating of satisfaction. Associations with patient ethnicity, patient religion, level of religiosity/spirituality, language/communication barriers, and location of death were assessed using univariable and multivariable modified Poisson regression. Secondary outcomes included differences in sat...

seto nielsen l., angus j.e., lapum j., dale c., kramer-kile m., abramson b., marzolini s., oh p., price j. & clark a. (2012) "I can't just follow any particular textbook": immigrants in cardiac rehabilitation. Journal of Advanced Nursing00(0), 000-000. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2648.2012.05975.x ABSTRACT: Aim.  The study purpose was to examine how and under what circumstances immigrants combine diabetes self-care with cardiac rehabilitation recommendations. Background.  Cardiac rehabilitation can improve and lengthen life in people with coronary heart disease as it promotes healthy physical and psychosocial behaviours and outcomes. This study is the first to examine the convergence of two common issues on participation: (1) the problems posed when cardiac rehabilitation patients must also contend with type II diabetes and (2) the experiences of immigrants in cardiac rehabilitation. Design.  A critical ethnographic approach was employed. Methods.  Two in depth interviews wer...