Improving hydration of care home residents by increasing choice and opportunity to drink: A quality improvement study.

Background & Aims: Dehydration is recognised as an important problem among care home residents and can be associated with severe consequences. Insufficient provision of fluids to meet resident preferences and lack of assistance to drink have been identified as key factors driving under-hydration of care home residents. Using targeted interventions, this study aimed to optimise hydration care for frail older people in a care home setting.

I-Hydrate training intervention for staff working in a care home setting: An observational study.

Background: Dehydration is a complex and well-recognised problem for older people residing in care homes. Within the social care sector support staff provide the majority of direct care for residents, and yet receive minimal training.

Objectives: To design, deliver and evaluate a hydration specific training session for care home staff to develop their knowledge and skills in supporting the hydration of care home residents.

Therapeutic relationships in specialist palliative care nursing practice.

There has been limited research into the scope or standards of specialist palliative care nursing practice in an Australian context. This study sought to develop a competency framework that described the core domains of specialist palliative care nursing. This article explores one key domain of specialist palliative care nursing practice - therapeutic relationships - that was identified as underpinning other domains of practice.