Scalability of an IT Intervention to Prevent Pressure Ulcers in Nursing Homes

Abstract

Background: Pressure ulcers pose an important quality-of-care challenge in nursing homes, with serious consequences for residents' health. We assessed the scalability of the On-Time Pressure Ulcer Prevention (On-Time) intervention strategy, developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality, in nursing homes nationwide.

Intervention: On-Time uses electronic health record reports to identify changes in resident pressure ulcer risk and facilitate multidisciplinary input into clinical decision making.

Objective: To assess the scalability and impact of On-Time on pressure ulcer incidence in nursing homes.

Design: We used quasi-experimental methods, employing a difference-in-differences design, to compare the pre-post trends in pressure ulcer incidence in the treatment and comparison homes.

Setting and participants: The study population included long-stay residents at high risk for developing pressure ulcers in 47 nursing homes and matched comparison homes in 17 states.

Measures: Stage 2 to 4 pressure ulcer incidence among long-stay residents who met the criteria for high risk, identified using an algorithm adapted from the Minimum Data Set 3.0 Percent of High-Risk Residents with Pressure Ulcers (Long Stay) measure.

Results: The overall decline in pressure ulcer rates for treatment relative to matched comparison homes was statistically insignificant (P > .05). A subgroup of heterogeneous homes experienced a statistically significant decline of 3.24 percentage points (61.0% relative decrease) in pressure ulcer rates relative to matched comparison homes, but no uniting characteristic common across homes readily explained their success.

Conclusions/implications: Scalability of future health information technology-based quality improvement interventions in nursing home settings requires nuanced implementation support, particularly around electronic health record report accessibility and accuracy.

Keywords: Nursing homes; electronic medical records; patient safety; pressure ulcers.