A multidisciplinary outreach program for older adults in Lebanon : proposal and recommendations

Abstract

The rise of the aging population together with the increase of chronic diseases in older adults lead to frequent hospital admissions, poor quality of life, noncompliance with the medical care and dissatisfaction of older adults and their caregivers. The resulting increased health care needs of the aging population leads to increased demand of primary health care services and multidisciplinary outreach programs in the community. The purpose of this project is to review the literature on community programs for older adults and development of an outreach program that fits the context of Lebanon, in order to improve the quality of care of older adults in Lebanon.The proposed modified Guided Care Model is a nurse-led, multidisciplinary, coordinated model of care that can be initiated with an advanced practice nurse and geriatric physician partnership, and then the team gets expanded to include a dietitian, a physical therapist, and other specialty physicians. Members of the team ought to be certified in gerontology and Guided Care.This proposed nurse-led multidisciplinary team provides initial assessment of the older adults and their caregivers, frequent home visits, with a prioritized and individualized plan of care, and follow up with proper learning assessment, education, coordination, collaboration and evaluation of care. Initially the program can start in affiliation with one medical center, and with awareness campaigns, referrals from other centers can be made.This program is hoped to reduce readmission rates and promote the quality of life of older adults in Lebanon. Challenges of implementation and evaluation are addressed.