Attitudes, Beliefs, and Self-Reported Rates of Influenza and COVID-19 Vaccinations in the Canadian 2023-2024 National Influenza and Respiratory Viruses Survey.

We conducted a cross-sectional, online survey of adult Canadian residents to evaluate their attitudes and beliefs about vaccination against respiratory viruses, particularly influenza and coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). Survey participants aged ≥ 18 years were randomly recruited from the Léger Opinion (LEO) consumer panel. Out of 3002 respondents, 76% reported being "up-to-date" on all of their recommended vaccinations, 86% reported understanding why the influenza vaccine was needed annually, 79% reported believing the influenza vaccine was safe, and 83% reported understanding that vaccines, in general, were important for health.

A Leave of Absence Might Not Be a Bad Thing: Registered Practical Nurses Working in Home Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

To describe the resilience and emotional intelligence of Registered Practical Nurses working in Home and Community Care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, to determine if there was a relationship between resilience and emotional intelligence based on whether a nurse: (1) left the sector, (2) considered leaving, or (3) took a leave of absence during the pandemic. An online cross-sectional survey was used to capture respondents' demographic information and scores on the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Resilience at Work Scale, and Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale.

Resilience for working in Ontario home and community care: registered practical nurses need the support of themselves, family and clients, and employers.

Background: The context of practice is often not explicit in the discourse around the personal and professional resilience of nurses. The unique factors related to providing nursing care in home and community care may provide novel insight into the resilience of this health workforce. Therefore, this research addressed how nurses build and maintain resilience working in the home and community care sector.

Caregivers' burden of care during emergency department care transitions among older adults: a mixed methods cohort study.

Objective: Improving care transitions for older adults can reduce emergency department (ED) revisits, and the strain placed upon caregivers. We analyzed whether caregivers felt a change in burden following a care transition, and what may be improved to reduce it.

Methods: This mixed-methods observational study nested within LEARNING WISDOM included caregivers of older patients who experienced an ED care transition.

Tech-Enabled Aging in the Right Place Will Only Succeed by Harmonizing Innovation With the Provision of Person-Centred Care.

The evolving concept of "[a]geing in the right place (AIRP)" (Iciaszczyk et al. 2022: 1) underscores the importance of enabling older adults to receive comprehensive care and support across various settings. There is growing evidence that innovative technologies can empower more persons to maintain their autonomy while better ensuring their safety, well-being and quality of life and also improve the experience of family caregivers and paid care providers.

Opportunities and Challenges in the Use of Technology to Support Aging in the Right Place.

This paper explores the rapidly growing integration of technology in the delivery of health and social care specifically focused on enabling "Ageing in the Place" (AIRP) (Iciaszczyk et al. 2022: 1). While exploring emerging opportunities and challenges, it specifically highlights growing disparities that are creating , as well as ethical concerns that will need to be addressed and supported by comprehensive evaluation frameworks and policies.

Predictors of Pain and Mood Disturbances Among Older People in Custody Using an interRAI Assessment.

The population of people in federal custody in Canada is aging. Those in custody report experiencing poorer health and high rates of chronic health conditions. Two health concerns that are disproportionately higher among those in custody are mood disorders and pain.

Impact of an intergenerational program to improve loneliness and social isolation in older adults initiated at the time of emergency department discharge: study protocol for a three-arm randomized clinical trial.

Background: Social isolation and loneliness (SIL) worsens mortality and other outcomes among older adults as much as smoking. We previously tested the impact of the HOW R U? intervention using peer support from similar-aged volunteers and demonstrated reduced SIL among older adults discharged from the emergency department (ED). Generativity, defined as "the interest in establishing and guiding the next generation," can provide an alternative theoretical basis for reducing SIL via intergenerational programs between members of younger and older generations.

The clinical use of personal hearing amplifiers in facilitating accessible patient-provider communication: A scoping review.

Background: Older adults with hearing loss struggle to communicate with care providers and experience higher mortality rates when hospitalized (Genther et al., 2015), even after controlling for age and comorbidities. Personal hearing amplifiers (PHAs), (e.

Impact of a peer-support programme to improve loneliness and social isolation due to COVID-19: does adding a secure, user friendly video-conference solution work better than telephone support alone? Protocol for a three-arm randomised clinical trial.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the implementation of physical distancing and self-isolation strategies worldwide. However, these measures have significant potential to increase social isolation and loneliness. Among older people, loneliness has increased from 40% to 70% during COVID-19.

Transitions of care for older adults discharged home from the emergency department: an inductive thematic content analysis of patient comments.

Objective: Improving care transitions for older adults can reduce emergency department (ED) visits, adverse events, and empower community autonomy. We conducted an inductive qualitative content analysis to identify themes emerging from comments to better understand ED care transitions.

Methods: The LEARNING WISDOM prospective longitudinal observational cohort includes older adults (≥ 65 years) who experienced a care transition after an ED visit from both before and during COVID-19.

Implementation of the Acute Care for Elders Strategy to Improve the Quality of Care Transitions in Quebec and Ontario: a Retrospective Multiple Case Study.

Background: In 2016, two Canadian hospitals participated in a quality improvement (QI) program, the International Acute Care for Elders (ACE) Collaborative, and sought to adapt and implement a transition coach intervention (TCI). Both hospitals were challenged to provide optimal continuity of care for an increasing number of older adults. The two hospitals received initial funding, coaching, educational materials, and tools to adapt the TCI to their local contexts, but the QI project teams achieved different results.

Commentary: Minding the Gap - Why Wage Parity Is Crucial for the Care of Older Canadians.

Zagrodney and colleagues (2023) have highlighted the pay differences that exist between those working in the home and community care (HCC) sector and other healthcare sectors. The authors argue that achieving wage parity could significantly mitigate the current HCC human resource crisis, support the overall sustainability of Ontario's healthcare system and improve patient outcomes. We build on their argument by highlighting issues that have contributed to wage disparities within healthcare systems and discuss how addressing them can create more equitable systems for both those receiving and those providing care.

Rates of Hospital-Based Care among Older Adults in the Community and Residential Care Facilities: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Study.

Objective: We examine annual rates of emergency department (ED) visits, hospital admissions, and alternate levels of care (ALC) days (ie, the number of days that an older adult remained in hospital when they could not be safely discharged to an appropriate setting in their community) among older adults.

Design: Repeated cross-sectional study.

Setting And Participants: Linked, individual-level health system administrative data on community-dwelling persons, home care recipients, residents of assisted living facilities, and residents of nursing homes aged 65 years and older in Ontario, Canada, from January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2019.

Clinical Comorbidities and Transitions Between Care Settings Among Residents of Assisted Living Facilities: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Study.

Objective: We investigate the changes in the sociodemographic characteristics, clinical comorbidities, and transitions between care settings among residents of assisted living facilities.

Design: Repeated cross-sectional study.

Setting And Participants: Linked, individual-level health system administrative data on residents of assisted living facilities in Ontario, Canada, from January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2019.

Exacerbated inequalities: A scoping review of the experiences of older persons during conflict situations.

Background: We conducted the first known comprehensive literature review to (1) identify, categorize, and summarize the existing knowledge about the experiences of older persons and their caregivers during conflict situations; (2) identify the support needs of older persons and their caregivers, and; (3) identify gaps in the literature and understanding that may inform future research.

Methods: A scoping review methodology of academic peer-reviewed and gray English language literature was employed using six academic literature databases and one gray literature database. We further performed comprehensive searches of relevant search engines and organization websites and bibliographic hand searches to identify additional academic and gray literature.

Cost-utility analysis of a multispecialty interprofessional team dementia care model in Ontario, Canada.

Objectives: To examine the cost-effectiveness of Multi-specialty INterprofessional Team (MINT) Memory Clinic care in comparison to the provision of usual care.

Design: Using a Markov-based state transition model, we performed a cost-utility (costs and quality-adjusted life years, QALY) analysis of MINT Memory Clinic care and usual care not involving MINT Memory Clinics.

Setting: A primary care-based Memory Clinic in Ontario, Canada.

Development and validation of a hospital frailty risk measure using Canadian clinical administrative data.

Background: Accessible measures specific to the Canadian context are needed to support health system planning for older adults living with frailty. We sought to develop and validate the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) Hospital Frailty Risk Measure (HFRM).

Methods: Using CIHI administrative data, we conducted a retrospective cohort study involving patients aged 65 years and older who were discharged from Canadian hospitals from Apr.

Characteristics and practice patterns of family physicians who provide home visits in Ontario, Canada: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Physician home visits are essential for populations who cannot easily access office-based primary care. The objective of this study was to describe the characteristics, practice patterns and physician-level patient characteristics of Ontario physicians who provide home visits.

Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study, based on health administrative data, of Ontario physicians who provided home visits and their patients, between Jan.

Agreement and prognostic accuracy of three ED vulnerability screeners: findings from a prospective multi-site cohort study.

Objectives: To evaluate the agreement between three emergency department (ED) vulnerability screeners, including the InterRAI ED Screener, ER, and PRISMA-7. Our secondary objective was to evaluate the discriminative accuracy of screeners in predicting discharge home and extended ED lengths-of-stay (> 24 h).

Methods: We conducted a nested sub-group study using data from a prospective multi-site cohort study evaluating frailty in older ED patients presenting to four Quebec hospitals.

Report on fraying resilience among the Ontario Registered Practical Nurse Workforce in long-term care homes during COVID-19.

Aim: Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs) are frontline healthcare providers in Ontario long-term care (LTC) homes. Throughout COVID-19, RPNs working in LTC homes experienced prolonged lockdowns, challenging working conditions, and inadequate resource allocation. This study aimed to describe the personal and professional resilience of RPNs working in LTC during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Examining the utility and accuracy of the interRAI Emergency Department Screener in identifying high-risk older emergency department patients: A Canadian multiprovince prospective cohort study.

Objectives: We set out to determine the accuracy of the interRAI Emergency Department (ED) Screener in predicting the need for detailed geriatric assessment in the ED. Our secondary objective was to determine the discriminative ability of the interRAI ED Screener for predicting the odds of discharge home and extended ED length of stay (>24 hours).

Methods: We conducted a multiprovince prospective cohort study in Canada.

Reflecting on the Journey to Develop New National Long-Term Care Standards.

Samir K. Sinha - Implementation Science Team lead and chair of the Health Standards Organization's National Long-Term Care Services Standard Technical Committee - sheds light on the development of the long-term care national standards. Sinha also discusses what the standards hope to achieve for improved quality of care and quality of life across the sector.