Evaluation of Partnerships in Preparedness (PiP): A Mentorship Program for Long-Term Care Facilities in COVID-19 Crisis

Year 2022, Volume: 5 Issue: 2, 17 - 26, 15.12.2022

Sharon Medcalf , Matthew A. Beacom Anna Hansen Leslie Gunning-scofield Shireen S. Rajaram

https://doi.org/10.51819/jaltc.2021.1052026

Abstract

Long-term care facilities (LTCF) in the U.S. rank among the most profoundly affected industries from the Covid-19 pandemic. LTCF staff faced insurmountable challenges in their attempts to contain outbreaks and mitigate transmission. Changes in workflow processes were unprecedented, increasing stress on both providers and on fragile residents. LTCF facility representatives, already overwhelmed with the demands of the facility, were struggling to interpret the latest and ever-changing recommendations and to configure guidelines to their own facility operations and infrastructure. Given the isolated nature of rural (and some urban) long term care facilities, combined with the struggling industry, a one-to-one mentorship program seemed like a viable and welcome solution. Partnerships with professional associations were established to recruit facilities interested in establishing a mentor relationship. Mentors were given a short orientation to the program and then paired with a long-term care facility representative. Daily mentor meetings were conducted in the initial weeks of the program and then reduced to 3 times per week. Program evaluation was conducted mid-way through the program through a series of focus groups with mentors and mentees in separate sessions and the qualitative results are the subject of this paper. Feedback from both mentor and mentees was overwhelmingly positive, which concurs with systematic reviews of other published mentorship programs. Given that solutions for future planning should be based on lessons learned from previous crises, mentees in this program provided sound advice for measures that should be implemented regardless of the establishment of a formalized mentorship program. More comprehensive mentor orientation, mentee peer-peer interaction and engagement, consolidation of ever evolving recommendations, and procedural templates were outcome program recommendations. This mentorship program serves as a national call to build an infrastructure now to provide valuable support for those who will dedicate their professional lives to protecting our vulnerable aging generation.

Keywords

Long-Term Care, Mentorship, Pandemic, Preparedness

Supporting Institution

University of Nebraska Medical Center

References

• Behrens, L. L., & Naylor, M. D. (2020). “We are alone in this battle”: a framework for a coordinated response to COVID-19 in nursing homes. Journal of Aging & Social Policy, 32(4-5), 316-322.
• Bhatti, P., Connor, M., Yao, J., Staiculescu, D., & Poproski, R. (2020). A Peer-Mentoring Experience for Graduate Students. IEEE Potentials, 39(5), 6-11.
• Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative research in psychology, 3(2), 77-101.
• Burgess, A., van Diggele, C., & Mellis, C. (2018). Mentorship in the health professions: a review. The clinical teacher, 15(3), 197-202. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/tct.12756
• Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2016). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches: Sage publications.
• D'Adamo, H., Yoshikawa, T., & Ouslander, J. G. (2020). Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Geriatrics and Long-Term Care: The ABCDs of COVID-19. J Am Geriatr Soc, 68(5), 912-917. doi:10.1111/jgs.16445
• Gavin, B., Hayden, J., Adamis, D., & McNicholas, F. (2020). Caring for the psychological well-being of healthcare professionals in the Covid-19 pandemic crisis. Ir Med J, 113(4), 51.
• Ghosh, R., Hutchins, H. M., Rose, K. J., & Manongsong, A. M. (2020). Exploring the lived experiences of mutuality in diverse formal faculty mentoring partnerships through the lens of mentoring schemas. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 31(3), 319-340.
• Huberman, A. M., & Miles, J. S. M. B. (2019). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook.
• Liao, L., Xiao, L. D., Chen, H., Wu, X. Y., Zhao, Y., Hu, M., . . . Feng, H. (2020). Nursing home staff experiences of implementing mentorship programmes: A systematic review and qualitative meta‐synthesis. Journal of nursing management, 28(2), 188-198. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7328728/pdf/JONM-28-188.pdf
• Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry: sage.
• Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook. 3rd. ed: Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Ouslander, J. G., & Grabowski, D. C. (2020). COVID‐19 in nursing homes: calming the perfect storm. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 68(10), 2153-2162.
• Patton, M. Q. (2014). Qualitative research & evaluation methods: Integrating theory and practice: Sage publications.
• Roy, J., Jain, R., Golamari, R., Vunnam, R., & Sahu, N. (2020). COVID‐19 in the geriatric population. International journal of geriatric psychiatry, 35(12), 1437-1441.
• Yen, M.-Y., Schwartz, J., King, C.-C., Lee, C.-M., & Hsueh, P.-R. (2020). Recommendations for protecting against and mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic in long-term care facilities. Journal of Microbiology, Immunology and Infection, 53(3), 447-453.