AN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY TO EVALUATE THE IMPACT OF A SPECIALIST OUTREACH TEAM ON THE QUALITY OF CARE IN NURSING AND RESIDENTIAL HOMES

Observations of the quality of interaction between staff and residents were made to assess the impact of training and support provided to ca re staff in nursing and residential homes. Assessments were made befor e, during and at the end of the training intervention using an adaptat ion of the Quality of Interactions Schedule (QUIS: Dean st al., 1993a) modified to avoid the ceiling effect of the original version. A signi ficant increase in the proportion of time staff spent in positive inte ractions with residents was observed, both in terms of direct care (p < 0.002) and social contact (p < 0.05) at the end of the training sche dule. Levels of resident activity were also found to increase immediat ely after completion of training (p < 0.001). The results suggest that changes in the quality of interaction between staff and residents can be obtained by providing regular training and support to care workers . These findings suggest that the training schedule used in the presen t study may have a positive impact on the quality of care provided in nursing and residential homes for the elderly.