Resnick to Head Gerontological Society

Congratulations to former INQRI Grantee Barbara Resnick, who was recently voted president-elect of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA).

Resnick, who currently serves as professor and Sonia Ziporkin Gershowitz Chair in Gerontology at the University of Maryland School of Nursing in Baltimore, will begin as president-elect in 2015-2016, and then become president for the 2016-2017 term.  GSA is devoted to research and education in all aspects of gerontology, including medical, biological, psychological and social.

“I am honored to serve in the role of GSA’s president-elect, and in the future, as its president,” Resnick said in a news release. “GSA has the opportunity to be a leader in interdisciplinary work in the areas of gerontology and geriatrics, including educational aspects, research, practice and policy.”

Resnick and fellow INQRI grantee Sheryl Zimmerman developed a successful intervention designed to deliver Function Focused Care to residents in assisted living facilities. Their intervention was designed to maintain and improve function, physical activity, muscle strength, psychosocial outcomes (efficacy expectations and life satisfaction) and decrease adverse events (pain, falls and hospitalizations) among assisted living residents. Residents in intervention treatment sites demonstrated fewer declines in function and spent more time in moderate level physical activity at 4 months and more overall counts of activity at 12 months when compared to residents in control sites. There were also fewer transfers to the hospital among those in the treatment sites.

Nurse-led Intervention Successful in Increasing Older Patients' Activity Levels

Nurse-led primary care interventions can lead to sustained increases in physical activity (PA) among older adults, according to a recent article published in PLOS Medicine by lead author Tess Harris of St George's University of London. Additionally, the participating patients indicated that they felt positively about the intervention, reports Medical Xpress.

Researchers enrolled nearly 300 people ages 60-75 in the trial, and randomly separated them by household, to receive either standard care or the nurse-led intervention. Primary care nurses delivered PA consultations over a three month-period to the intervention group, providing individualized activity plans and feedback on data recorded from pedometers and accelerometers worn by the patients.

At the three month mark, the intervention group reported that they took 1,037 more steps than the control group. Additionally, the intervention group spent 63 more minutes per week in PA sessions of 10 minutes or more. There was a sustained gap at the 12-month mark, although it decreased to 609 steps per day and 40 minutes per week.

The trial, funded by the National Institute for Health Research, suggests that this type of nurse-led intervention may be an effective way to increase PA in older adults, resulting in better health. However, the researchers said that additional trials are needed to discover what aspects of the intervention were most effective and how it would work in larger and more socio-economically diverse populations.


INQRI grantees Barbara Resnick and Sheryl Zimmerman also found success with an intervention designed to deliver Function Focused Care to residents in assisted living facilities. Their intervention was designed to maintain and improve function, PA, muscle strength, psychosocial outcomes (efficacy expectations and life satisfaction) and decrease adverse events (pain, falls and hospitalizations) among assisted living residents. Residents in intervention treatment sites demonstrated fewer declines in function and spent more time in moderate level physical activity at 4 months and more overall counts of activity at 12 months when compared to residents in control sites. There were also fewer transfers to the hospital among those in the treatment sites.

Staff Turnover Linked to Poor Patient Outcomes in LTCs

Two recent studies suggest that preventing staff turnover should be given greater emphasis in long-term care facilities (LTCs), Advanced Healthcare Network for Nurses reports. The studies examined the relationship between turnover of nursing staff and quality of care for nursing homes residents and found negative outcomes for patients in facilities with high turnover.

Published in December 2013, both studies were based on data from the 2004 National Nursing Home Survey. The first, "Are Nursing Home Survey Deficiencies Higher in Facilities with Greater Staff Turnover," found that turnover for both licensed nurses and certified nursing assistants (CNAs) were associated with problems in quality of care, qualify of life, and resident behavior deficiencies. The second study, "Turnover Staffing, Skill Mix, and Resident Outcomes in a National Sample of U.S. Nursing Homes," found a relationship between high turnover among CNAs and adverse patient outcomes such as pressure ulcers, urinary tract infections, and pain.

An INQRI study led by Robin Newhouse and Laura Morlock, published in the May 2013 issue of Medical Care, underscores the importance of nurse staffing in providing quality care. The researchers tested in 23 rural hospitals a quality collaborative intervention to improve care for heart failure patients. At the end of the study, the researchers found no quantitative difference between the intervention and control groups on implementation of the key measures. They did find that hospitals with lower turnover in nurse staffing implemented more of the measures. The researchers assert that the study speaks to the central role of nurses in quality improvement.

INQRI also looked at patient outcomes in LTCs in The Res-Care-AL Intervention Study.  Researchers, led by Barbara Resnick and Sheryl Zimmerman, conducted a randomized controlled trial to test Function Focused Care – Assisted Living, an intervention designed to maintain and improve function, physical activity, muscle strength, psychosocial outcomes, and decrease adverse events (pain, falls, and hospitalizations) among assisted living residents.