Heart failure is common in the nursing home population and presents many diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. Point-of-care ultrasonography is a bedside method that can be used to assess volume ...status more reliably than clinical examination. This trial was conceived to test whether point-of-care ultrasonography-guided management improves heart failure outcomes among nursing home residents.
Nursing home residents with heart failure will be enrolled in a multi-centre, prospective, randomised controlled trial. Residents will first be screened for heart failure. Patients with heart failure will be randomised in 1:1 fashion into two groups. Nursing home physicians will adjust diuretic therapy according to volume status for six months. Point-of-care ultrasonography will be used in the test group and clinical examination in the control group. The primary endpoint will be heart failure deterioration, defined as a composite of any of the following four events: the need for an intravenous diuretic application, the need for an emergency service intervention, the need for unplanned hospitalisation for non-injury causes, or death from whatever cause.
The expected prevalence of heart failure among nursing home residents is above 10%. Point-of-care ultrasonography-guided heart failure management will reduce the number of deteriorations of heart failure in the nursing home population.
This study will explore the usefulness of point-of-care ultrasonography for heart failure management in the nursing home population.
The purpose of this research was to identify the prevalence of violence towards nursing staff in Slovenian nursing homes.
For the purpose of this study, a non-experimental sampling method was ...employed, using a structured questionnaire as a data collection instrument (n=527). The contents of the questionnaire proved valid and reliable, with a high enough degree of internal consistency (Cronbach Alpha minimum 0.82).
The nursing staffs working in nursing homes for senior citizens are at high risk of violence. In the last year, the employees were most often faced with verbal violence (71.7%), physical violence (63.8%) and sexual violence (35.5%). 35.5% of employees suffered injuries at their working place. During aggressive outbursts of nursing home residents, employees particularly experience vulnerability, fear and insecurity.
There is a need for a comprehensive approach to tackle workplace violence. Some psychiatric health care facilities have already introduced certain measures in this field, and reduction of workplace violence proves that it is possible to reduce aggressive outbursts of patients. After conducting further quantitative research, which would expose detailed characteristics and the background of such violence, it would be sensible to develop similar measures in the field of health care in nursing homes.
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