TY - JOUR

T1 - Vitamin D and calcium supplementation in nursing homes — a quality improvement study

AU - Mortensen, Charlotte

AU - Tetens, Inge

AU - Kristensen, Michael

AU - Beck, Anne Marie

N1 - CURIS 2022 NEXS 298

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Even though dietary supplements with vitamin D and calcium are recommended to nursing home residents, we recently reported a low adherence to this recommendation. The objective of this 20-week quality improvement study was to use the Model for Improvement and Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles to improve adherence in Danish nursing homes. We included two nursing homes with 109 residents at baseline. An information sheet including the rationale forthe recommendation was developed for the nurses to urge residents to take the supplements and seek approval by the general practitioner afterwards (PDSA cycle 1). Moreover, it was included in admission meetings with new residents to address supplementation (PDSA cycle 2). A nurse reviewed patient records for number of residents prescribed adequate doses of vitamin D (≥20 µg) and calcium (≥800 mg) before, during and after the intervention. At baseline, 32% (n = 35) of the residents had adequate doses of vitamin D and calcium. After implementation of the information sheet and adjustment to admission meetings, this increased to 65% (n = 71) at endpoint (p < 0.001). In conclusion, in this quality improvement study, we improved the number of prescriptions ofadequate doses of vitamin D and calcium over 20 weeks using the Model for Improvement and PDSA experiments.

AB - Even though dietary supplements with vitamin D and calcium are recommended to nursing home residents, we recently reported a low adherence to this recommendation. The objective of this 20-week quality improvement study was to use the Model for Improvement and Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles to improve adherence in Danish nursing homes. We included two nursing homes with 109 residents at baseline. An information sheet including the rationale forthe recommendation was developed for the nurses to urge residents to take the supplements and seek approval by the general practitioner afterwards (PDSA cycle 1). Moreover, it was included in admission meetings with new residents to address supplementation (PDSA cycle 2). A nurse reviewed patient records for number of residents prescribed adequate doses of vitamin D (≥20 µg) and calcium (≥800 mg) before, during and after the intervention. At baseline, 32% (n = 35) of the residents had adequate doses of vitamin D and calcium. After implementation of the information sheet and adjustment to admission meetings, this increased to 65% (n = 71) at endpoint (p < 0.001). In conclusion, in this quality improvement study, we improved the number of prescriptions ofadequate doses of vitamin D and calcium over 20 weeks using the Model for Improvement and PDSA experiments.

KW - Faculty of Science

KW - Vitamin D

KW - Calcium

KW - Supplements

KW - Nursing homes

KW - Adherence

KW - Model for improvement

U2 - 10.3390/nu14245360

DO - 10.3390/nu14245360

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 36558519

VL - 14

JO - Nutrients

JF - Nutrients

SN - 2072-6643

IS - 24

M1 - 5360

ER -