Overview
Residential Long-Term Care (LTC) facilities are under pressure to provide high-quality care under difficult conditions. Shortage of specialists, tight financial conditions and the partial lack of access to geriatric expertise are challenges that require new solutions. Maintaining quality of care requires optimal use of highly qualified professionals with geriatric expertise. A possible solution are nurse-led models of care, in which nurses with in-depth geriatric training take on expanded roles to coach nursing and care teams and strengthen interprofessional collaboration. One such model is INTERCARE, which was developed and successfully implemented based on a careful contextual analysis of LTC facilities in the German-speaking part of Switzerland.
The INTERCARE research project was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (National Research Program 74), the Nursing Science Foundation Switzerland (Stiftung Pflegewissenschaft) and the Ebnet Foundation (Ebnet Stiftung). The aim was to reduce unplanned transfers from Swiss LTC facilities by implementing an interprofessional nurse-led care model.
The INTERCARE model was tested during 21 months (2018-2020) in eleven LTC facilities in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, and its evaluation was able to show effectiveness in reducing unplanned transfers. It confirmed established international evidence of the effectiveness of nurse-led care models in improving the quality of care in LTC facilities.
The supporting evaluation showed a high acceptance of INTERCARE among the participating LTC facilities and 3 years after the project end, the project is implemented in all 11 Residential LTC facilities.
INTERCARE provides evidence that it can be a sustainable solution for the Swiss context to face current challenges in the LTC sector.
The Research Project
The INTERCARE research project consisted of project phases A (2017-2018) and B (2018-2020). The entire project took place over 4 years (2017-2020).
Phase A resulted in a newly developed nurse-led model of care including six core components (“puzzle pieces”). In phase B of the INTERCARE research project, the nurse-led model of care was introduced, implemented and evaluated in 11 Residential LTC facilities in the German part of Switzerland.
The study allowed first evidence-based statements on the use of nurses with further training in geriatrics (nurses working in expanded roles), in interprofessional teams in Swiss Residential LTC facilities. INTERCARE addresses the lack of access to geriatric expertise in Swiss Residential LTC facilities and helps develop sustainable solutions
The first national report of the INTERCARE research project is available in four languages (English, German, French, Italian), and provides an overview of how INTERCARE was developed and implemented so that stakeholders from Residential LTC facilities and policymakers have a basis for further expansion of the model.
Financing
INTERCARE was financially supported by:
