Newswise — Although the majority of care quality aspects in long-term care facilities remained unchanged during the initial year of the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic standards, recent research indicates a rise in the utilization of antipsychotic medications across all provinces.
The study examined health system performance reports sourced from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) spanning a three-year period, encompassing two years preceding the pandemic and the initial year of COVID-19. These reports drew data from over 500,000 resident assessments conducted in Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, and British Columbia.
The selection of these four provinces for the research was driven by their notable prevalence of COVID-19 cases within long-term care facilities during the initial stages of the pandemic.
Dr. John Hirdes, a researcher in the School of Public Health Sciences, emphasized the significant difficulties that long-term care homes encountered during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to increased mortality rates. The study conducted by Dr. Hirdes and his team concentrated on various aspects of care quality throughout the pandemic, demonstrating minimal alterations overall, except for notable rises in the inappropriate utilization of antipsychotic medications.
The proportion of residents who received antipsychotic drugs without a psychosis diagnosis escalated in all provinces, not limited to the four under examination. Alberta witnessed the most substantial surge, while Ontario demonstrated the smallest rise. According to Hirdes, "We did not detect a noteworthy upturn in behavioral symptoms, prompting the query of whether these medications were administered proactively, foreseeing difficulties amidst outbreaks and staff shortages."
The research team found no significant changes in other areas, such as falls, pressure ulcers and physical restraints.
Co-author Dr. George Heckman, who holds the Schlegel Research Chair in Geriatric Medicine and works in the School of Public Health Sciences, underscored the significance of the endeavor exerted by long-term care teams, including nurses, personal support workers, and others, in upholding care quality amid unparalleled circumstances. These data emphasize their commendable efforts during these challenging times.
Lead author Dr. Luke Turcotte, who is currently an assistant professor at Brock University and a Waterloo PhD graduate, highlighted that the study primarily concentrated on provincial-level findings. However, he mentioned that individual long-term care homes could utilize the publicly accessible evidence provided by CIHI to evaluate and enhance their performance in resident care. Dr. Turcotte suggested that homes with elevated rates of antipsychotic medication utilization could adopt successful interventions previously implemented in Canada to effectively decrease their unnecessary use.
The study, "Long-Term Care Resident Health and Quality of Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Synthesis Analysis of Canadian Institute for Health Information Data Tables," was published in the scientific journal Health Services Insights. The Government of Canada's New Frontiers in Research and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research partly funded the study.
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