Healthcare Professionals' Documentation in Supported Accommodation for People with Profound Intellectual...

Area of Science:

• Healthcare quality improvement
• Intellectual disability care
• Documentation practices

Background:

• High-quality relationships are crucial for individuals with profound intellectual disabilities (IQ < 20-25) to ensure quality healthcare and promote autonomy.
• Effective documentation by healthcare professionals (HPs) is vital for recognizing and supporting these individuals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of an educational intervention on the documentation of interactions between HPs and individuals with profound intellectual disabilities in supported accommodation.
• To measure changes in the description of residents' experiences and practical solutions in progress notes.

Main Methods:

• An educational intervention was implemented to encourage HPs to document their approaches and interactions.
• The Scale for the Evaluation of Staff-Patient Interactions in Progress Notes (SESPI) was used to analyze journal notes.
• Documentation was compared before and after the three-month intervention period.

Main Results:

• The percentage of journal notes describing residents' experiences increased significantly from 23.1% to 28.5% (p = 0.041).
• Documentation of practical solutions related to residents' experiences rose substantially from 0.9% to 8.5% (p < 0.001).
• The intervention led to a significant improvement in documenting HP-resident interplay.

Conclusions:

• The educational intervention effectively enhanced the documentation of relational work between HPs and individuals with profound intellectual disabilities.
• Improved documentation supports better recognition of residents' experiences, potentially enhancing autonomy and participation.
• Further research is needed to confirm the generalizability of these findings in diverse settings.