COMMUNITY CARE, DIGITAL HEALTH, ESHIFT, OLDER ADULTS

e-Shift, an innovative home care model: Perceptions of Nurse Practitioners

Research Summary

Research Topic:

In response to needs of older adults at the end-of-life and challenges in the recruitment and retention of healthcare providers in home care in the South West Community Care Access Center, a new and innovative model of home care, eShift, has been developed. eShift links unregulated care providers (technicians) providing home care to a remotely-situated Directing Registered Nurse (DRN), through a smart phone application using real-time communication and documentation technology. The DRN monitors and directs appropriate, safe, and effective care provided in collaboration with the technician in real-time, enhancing quality of care delivery for older adults and their family caregivers.

Findings:

Nurse practitioners providing home-based palliative care were interviewed (n= 4) early in the study and six months later. When commenting on those patients who received care through the eShift model, nurse practitioners described their patients as receiving consistent team-based care that the patient’s condition was well monitored, and they had good symptom management. They also believed that patients were able to rest better knowing that their families were receiving some respite care. At the beginning of this study, nurse practitioners indicated to the researchers that they were not able to access patient information through the eShift portal. Nurse practitioners indicated that access to all patient information including patients receiving eShift would facilitate care. This information was conveyed to decision-makers by researchers during the study. Our later interviews with nurse practitioners suggest that they were beginning to access the eShift portal to review patient information.

This project is supported by a team of researchers & led by co-principal investigators:

Lorie Donelle, RN, PhD, Associate Professor, Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing and School of Health Studies, Western University. ldonelle@uwo.ca

Sandra Regan, RN, PhD, Associate Professor, Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing, Western University. sregan4@uwo.ca

Suggested Citation: Donelle, L., Regan, S. (2016, April). E-shift, an innovative home care model: Perceptions of nurse practitioners. Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing.

Resources & Links

Team/Advisors

Dr. Lorie Donelle

Associate professor and research chair, Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing, Western University

Lorie Donelle was inspired to launch Health in All Data from her research across health literacy, equity, and digital health.

She is an Associate Professor at Western University in the Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing and a Scientist with the Lawson Health Research Institute in London Ontario and is an inaugural member of Fellows of the Canadian Academy of Nursing (FCAN). She holds an endowed research chair – the Arthur Labatt Family Chair in Nursing focused on digital health. Dr. Donelle’s research addresses health promotion specific to issues of health & digital health literacy(s), social justice, and digital health. Her research investigates technology-enabled models of healthcare and the relationships between health information technologies and client/clinician health practices. Dr. Donelle contributes to International and national advisory committees for health literacy and digital health.

Dr. Sandra Regan, RN

Deputy Registrar and Executive Director of Education, Policy, and Practice, British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives

Sandra is the Deputy Registrar and Executive Director of Education, Policy, and Practice at the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives.

Sandra’s work focuses on education program review, practice support and consultation, health policy, and research.

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