Long-term Care Facility Staff’s Experience of Safety Activities: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Background: Ensuring the safety and quality of care is paramount in long-term care facilities due to residents’ vulnerability. Objective: We explored the experiences of long-term care facility staff (eg, registered nurses [RNs], certified nursing assistants [CNAs], care workers, social workers, and physical therapists) in safety activities, aiming to understand their meaning and nature. Methods: We conducted qualitative focus group interviews with 25 participants, specifically addressing safety issues in long-term care facilities through the use of open-ended questions. We transcribed the data and conducted thematic analysis. Results: Participants engaged in discussions about various challenges, including assisting residents in maintaining physical comfort, managing behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia, ensuring medication safety, implementing infection control practices, and providing adequate training on fire prevention, evacuation, and response protocols. Themes identified were “physical comfort,” “managing dementia symptoms,” “drug administration,” “infection control,” and “fire prevention.” Conclusions: The staff emphasized the safety of residents as their highest priority. Considering the lack of registered nurses in long-term care facilities, ongoing training and supervision are necessary to ensure that other long-term care facility staff can perform safety activities.