Successful Care Conferences: Nursing Home Staff, Persons with Dementia, and Caregiver Perspectives.
Gail L Towsley, Linda S Edelman, Roxanne Geurin
PMID 39961356WHAT IT FOUND
Nursing home staff and families identified three keys to successful virtual care conferences: keeping the resident present and driving the discussion, ensuring direct-care staff like CNAs attend and prepare, and using a trained facilitator to manage the agenda and technology.
Key findings
01Advisors emphasized that residents must be present and actively engaged, with time to respond, rather than having meetings conducted about them.
02Success depends on including the staff who know the resident best, particularly nursing assistants, and having them and the family prepare by watching the resident's wishes video beforehand.
03Virtual meetings require a single trained facilitator to manage the structure, share agendas in advance, and help participants troubleshoot technology.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPsWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study did not include actual nursing home residents; advisors served as proxies or representatives. The sample was small, predominantly white, and lacked racial and ethnic diversity. Nursing assistants (CNAs), who are central to the findings, were not interviewed directly. Most advisors had experience with in-person care conferences, not virtual ones, so their views on virtual success were prospective.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume these findings prove that virtual care conferences improve patient outcomes or reduce costs. The study reports on what advisors *think* makes a conference successful; it did not measure actual clinical results or compare virtual to in-person effectiveness.