Participatory Action Research to Enhance Patient-Centred Goal Setting in Geriatric Rehabilitation: A Nursing Team's Quest.
Anne Marie Vaalburg, Elizabeth M Wattel, Petra Boersma and 2 others
PMID 39856494WHAT IT FOUND
Nurses on a geriatric rehabilitation ward found that preparing multidisciplinary team meetings with patients helped nurses advocate, but did not make the rehabilitation path clear.
Whiteboards with small goals were described as useful for some patients, not all.
Key findings
01Of the 78 tracked multidisciplinary team meetings, 55% were prepared by a nurse and 22% were prepared with the patient.
02The preparatory talks did not give patients a comprehensive understanding of their rehabilitation trajectory; four patients did not remember them and four patients experienced them positively.
03Whiteboard goals were described as contributing positively in eight of nine patients, but impact differed: some patients needed structure, some valued attention, and some still needed oral reminders.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was done on one geriatric rehabilitation ward, so it may not match other wards. Non nursing professionals were not formally included, even though rehabilitation is team based. Patients were not involved in designing the actions, only in testing and evaluating them. The patient samples were small and varied, and there was no comparison group. The work was mainly done by students and a facilitator because nurses had little protected time. Staff and student turnover, plus the pandemic, disrupted continuity. The facilitator was a former nurse and had a central guiding role, which may have shaped the process.
Declared interests
No conflicts of interest are declared. The only funding statement names ZonMw.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat this as evidence that whiteboards or meeting preparation improve rehabilitation outcomes. It is a single ward nursing action study, the meeting talks did not increase patient involvement, and the whiteboard contribution was described in only eight of nine patients.