Addressing the Long-Term Care Crisis: Identifying Opportunities for Improvement Using Rapid Reviews

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Healthcare Management
• Medical Education

Background:

• Long-term care (LTC) facilities need evidence-based improvements.
• COVID-19 regulations necessitated a change in research methodology for three student-led projects.
• Projects focused on care satisfaction, team dynamics, and advance care directives.

Purpose of the Study:

• To adapt existing research designs into rapid reviews.
• To establish a baseline for quality improvement initiatives in LTC.
• To address care satisfaction, team dynamics, and advance care directives.

Main Methods:

• Re-designed three initial research projects as rapid reviews.
• Conducted English-limited PubMed searches for literature from the past 10 years.
• Prioritized review articles, supplemented with individual studies, followed by quality assessment and thematic synthesis.

Main Results:

• Evaluated 52 publications for the final synthesis.
• Retrieved relevant information for local evaluation and intervention at multiple policy levels.
• Demonstrated the feasibility of rapid reviews for quality improvement.

Conclusions:

• Rapid reviews are a cost-effective strategy for enhancing coordinated care in LTC.
• This method facilitates timely policy updates.
• It provides valuable long-term care perspectives for future healthcare professionals.