Covid-19 Management In NUrsing homes by outbreak TEamS (MINUTES) study: qualitative analyses on the impact of the pandemic in nursing homes (part 1)

Project status

Ongoing

Contact

Lisa van Tol

Host institution

Leiden University Medical Center, University Medical Center Groningen

Team members

Lisa van Tol MSc, Dr. Margot de Waal, Dr. Monique Caljouw, Dr. Hanneke Smaling, Arno Doornebosch MSc, Wendy Meester MSc, Janneke Groothuijse MSc, Dr. Sarah Janus, Prof Sytze Zuidema, Prof. Wilco Achterberg

Funding information (if funded)

This research was supported by the Ministry of Public Health Welfare and Sport, the University Network of the Care Sector Zuid-Holland (UNC-ZH), and the University Network for care for Older persons of the University Medical Center Groningen (UNO-UMCG).

Project Summary

Dutch long term care organizations (LTC’s) installed outbreak management teams (OT’s) to coordinate covid-19 infection prevention and control. These LTC’s and relevant national policy organizations such as the ministry of health expressed the need to share experiences from these OT’s in order to learn and be inspired from each other. OT meeting minutes are next a valuable data source to monitor the impact of Covid-19 in nursing homes and source for creative ideas to tackle the challenges that arise.

The aim of the “Covid-19 Management In NUrsing homes by crisis TEamS” (MINUTES) study is to describe the challenges, impact and the response of the Covid-19 pandemic in Dutch nursing homes.
Participating LTC’s representing over 500 nursing home locations shared their OT’s’ minutes for thematic analysis. Minutes described crisis management, isolation and beds, personal protective equipment and hygiene, personnel, testing, vaccination, visiting, and wellbeing of residents and informal caregivers.

Outputs / Expected Outputs

Journal articles:

van Tol LS, Smaling HJA, Groothuijse JM, et al COVID-19 management in nursing homes by outbreak teams (MINUTES) — study description and data characteristics: a qualitative study BMJ Open 2021;11:e053235. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-053235

van Tol LS, Smaling HJA, Meetser W, et al: Distancing Measures and Challenges Discussed by COVID-19 Outbreak Teams of Dutch Nursing Homes: The COVID-19 MINUTES Study. doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116570

Smeitink MMP, Smaling HJA, van Tol LS, et al: Activities for Residents of Dutch Nursing Homes during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study. doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19095465

Other outputs:

Insight into the challenges, impact and the response of the pandemic in nursing homes from the perspective of crisis management teams; Themes extracted from their minutes will be analyzed more in depth.
From March 2020 to June 2021 on a weekly to triweekly basis thematic summary reports were shared with national policy institutes and participating organizations as policy input.

Project website