Edinburgh Napier University

  Background: Quality improvement (QI) interventions are designed to resolve the recurring challenges of care for older individuals, such as working conditions for staff, roles of older individuals in their own care and their families, and relevant stakeholders. Therefore, there is a need to map the impacts of QI interventions in older care settings and further improve health and social care systems associated with older adults.
Objective: This review aims to compile and synthesise the best available evidence regarding the effectiveness of policy and practice quality improvement (QI) interventions for the care of older individuals. The secondary aim is to understand the care of older individuals and QI intervention-related experiences and perspectives of stakeholders, care providers, older individuals, and their families.
Methods: The review will follow the standard methodology used by Joanna Briggs Institute. The published studies will be searched through CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, ASSIA and Web of Science, and the unpublished studies through Mednar, Trove, OCLC WorldCat, and Dissertations and Theses. This review included both qualitative and quantitative analyses of patients undergoing older care and any healthcare professionals involved in the care delivery for older adults; a broad range of QI interventions, including assistive technologies, effects of training and education, improved reporting, safety programs, and medical devices; the experiences and perspectives of staff and patients; the context of older care setting; and a broad range of outcomes, including patient safety.
Results: A result-based convergent synthesis design will be used, and the standard procedure for reporting, i.e., PRISMA guidelines, will be followed.
Conclusions: This comprehensive review is expected to reflect on insights into some quality improvement interventions and their impact, outline some common challenges of quality for older care, and benefit both the practical usefulness of care service activities and the society at large.