A Practice Improvement Education Program Using a Mentored Approach to Improve Nursing Facility Depression...

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Healthcare Quality Improvement
• Psychiatry

Background:

• Depression is prevalent in nursing facility residents, necessitating improved assessment and management.
• The Minimum Data Set (MDS) 3.0 offers valuable data for enhancing depression care quality.
• Integrating MDS 3.0 data into quality improvement (QI) initiatives requires effective strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To augment nursing home (NH) capacity in utilizing QI processes for depression care.
• To improve depression assessment and management through focused mentorship and team building.

Main Methods:

• A 6-month intervention involving facilitated collection of MDS 3.0 Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and medication data.
• Education on QI, team building, nonpharmacological care, mentored team meetings, webinars, and technical assistance.
• Interprofessional teams were established, collecting resident data at baseline, 6, and 9 months.

Main Results:

• Five NHs formed interprofessional teams with significant participation in educational activities.
• Self-rated competency in depression care measures improved significantly (P = .05 to <.001).
• Resident depression scores remained stable, but antidepressant medication use decreased from 37.2% to 31.0% (P < .001).

Conclusions:

• The structured mentoring program successfully enhanced care processes and reduced psychotropic medication use in nursing home residents.
• The intervention was well-received and demonstrated potential for application to other prevalent conditions in NHs.