Havaei, F.; Staempfli, S.; Ma, A.; Sims-Gould, J.; Franke, T.; Park, M. Resident Impact of the Single Site Order Restricting Staff Mobility across Long-Term Care Homes in British Columbia, Canada. Healthcare2023, 11, 3190.
Havaei, F.; Staempfli, S.; Ma, A.; Sims-Gould, J.; Franke, T.; Park, M. Resident Impact of the Single Site Order Restricting Staff Mobility across Long-Term Care Homes in British Columbia, Canada. Healthcare 2023, 11, 3190.
Havaei, F.; Staempfli, S.; Ma, A.; Sims-Gould, J.; Franke, T.; Park, M. Resident Impact of the Single Site Order Restricting Staff Mobility across Long-Term Care Homes in British Columbia, Canada. Healthcare2023, 11, 3190.
Havaei, F.; Staempfli, S.; Ma, A.; Sims-Gould, J.; Franke, T.; Park, M. Resident Impact of the Single Site Order Restricting Staff Mobility across Long-Term Care Homes in British Columbia, Canada. Healthcare 2023, 11, 3190.
Abstract
The Single Site Order – a policy restricting staff from working at multiple long-term care homes – was mandated by the Public Health Agency of Canada to control the spread of COVID-19 in long-term care homes, where nearly 70% of COVID-19-related deaths in Canada occurred. This mixed methods study assesses the impact of Single Site Order on long-term care residents in British Columbia. Interviews were conducted (residents (n=6), family members (n=9), staff (n=18), and leadership (n=10) from long-term care homes (n=4)) and analyzed using thematic analysis. Administrative data was collected between April 2019 – March 2020 and April 2020 – March 2021 and analyzed using descriptive statistics and data visualization. Qualitative and quantitative data were triangulated and demonstrate staffing challenges became worse during implementation of the SSO resulting in the mental and physical health deterioration of LTC residents. Qualitative data demonstrated decreased time for personalized and proactive care, increased communication challenges, and increased loneliness and isolation. Quantitative data showed a decline in activities of daily living, increased antipsychotic medication use, pressure ulcers, behavioural symptoms, and an increase in falls. Addressing staff workload and staffing shortages during SSO-related policy implementation is essential to avoid resident health deterioration.
Keywords
patient supported research; COVID-19; older adult; mental health; pandemic management; policy evaluation; implementation science; staffing; quality of care; quality of life
Subject
Public Health and Healthcare, Health Policy and Services
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
