Enhancing Timely Access to Personal Support Workers for Seniors Receiving Rehabilitation and Reablement Services (R&R)

About the project

The Rehabilitation & Reablement (R&R) program provides seniors with intensive, short-term care and services after a hospital admission or health event in the community. This home-based care service enables seniors to remain at home and regain their independence for a safe and healthy recovery. Currently, the program is facing a gap in securing timely and consistent access to Personal Support Workers (PSWs) with the appropriate level of training. These challenges can lead to delays in discharging seniors from the hospital, put seniors at a risk of going home without appropriate services in place to help with recovery, and create administrative inefficiencies in accessing appropriate PSW services. To address this issue, the project evaluated two new models of PSW services: 

  • Model 1: Using a dedicated home support agency to provide PSWs (the Agency model). 
  • Model 2: Hiring PSWs to join the Extra-Mural Program’s (EMP) R&R care team (the Hired model).

Conclusions and lessons learned

  • Overall, the R&R patients who participated in the evaluation were highly satisfied with the services provided by their PSW. Additionally, R&R patients saw significant improvements in health-related quality of life upon program exit, with many improvements sustaining for months after exiting the program.
  • EMP staff’s satisfaction with PSWs varied depending upon the type of model. Altogether, it appears that the Hired model allows for more team cohesion, oversight from EMP staff, continuity of care, and efficient and effective communication.
  • PSWs felt that they could perform their jobs well with the training received on R&R goals and philosophy, along with ongoing support and mentoring from the staff.

Recommendations

  • Model delivery:
    • Consider the feasibility of a hybrid model of care provision between EMP staff and home care agencies.
    • Explore evidence-based approaches for engaging with home care agencies to provide PSWs.
  • Communication between EMP staff and PSWs:
    • Implement strategies to enhance communication between EMP staff members and PSWs in the Agency Model.

To learn more read the complete project findings (PDF 175 KB)