Practice change in long-term care facilities in Ontario: views of managers and staff

Little is known about how the use of data and feedback influences change in long-term care, and that was the focus of this study. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 126 frontline staff and managers from 19 randomly selected Ontario long-term care facilities. Content analysis revealed that staff members use data for problem identification and solution finding, justifying change, and monitoring change. Frontline providers primarily provided resident-based examples of data and feedback processes, whereas managers mainly described organization-based examples. Few participants discussed how information from mandated databases and related feedback processes could be used to inform change. Knowledge gained from this study will help organizations better understand the perspectives of different team members about data and feedback, thereby informing interventions that will enhance resident outcomes and quality service delivery in long-term care.