Supporting older patients in working on rehabilitation goals: A scoping review of nursing interventions

BackgroundNurses are consistently present throughout the rehabilitation of older patients but are apprehensive about performing goal-centred care in the multidisciplinary team. ObjectivesThe aim of this review was to explore working interventions on setting goals and working with goals designed for nurses in geriatric rehabilitation, and to describe their distinctive features. MethodsWe performed a scoping review. We searched MEDLINE and CINAHL through August 4, 2021. Search terms related to the following themes: nurses, rehabilitation, geriatric, goal and method. We used snowballing to find additional. From the selected studies, we systematically extracted data on means, materials and the nursing role and summarized them in a narrative synthesis, using intervention component analysis. ResultsThe study includes 13 articles, describing 11 interventions which were developed for six different aims: improving multidisciplinary team care; increasing patient centredness; improving disease management by patients; improving the psychological, and emotional rehabilitation; increasing the nursing involvement in rehabilitation; or helping patients to achieve goals. The interventions appeal to four aspects of the nursing profession: assessing self-care skills incorporating patient's preferences; setting goals with patients, taking into account personal needs and what is medically advisable; linking the needs of the patient with multidisciplinary professional treatment and vice versa; and thus, playing an intermediate role and supporting goal achievement. ConclusionsThe interventions show that in goal-centred care, the nurse might play an important unifying role between patients and the multidisciplinary team. With the support of nurses, the patient may become more aware of the rehabilitation process and transfer of ownership of treatment goals from the multidisciplinary team to the patient might be achieved. Not many interventions were found meant to support the nursing role. This may indicate a blind spot in the rehabilitation community to the additional value of its contribution.

Automated summary

In this review, the interventions focused on the important role of nurses in goal-centred care for older patients in geriatric rehabilitation. The findings showed that nurses can play a crucial role in integrating and facilitating communication between patients and the multidisciplinary team, leading to increased patient awareness and ownership of treatment goals. However, there is a lack of interventions specifically designed to support the nursing role, highlighting a potential oversight in the rehabilitation community.