Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jan-Dec:62:469580251328101.
doi: 10.1177/00469580251328101. Epub 2025 May 22.

Strengthening quality of care in partnership with long-term care facilities: Protocol of the Swiss National Implementation Programme NIP-Q-UPGRADE

Nereide A Curreri  1 , Laurie Corna  1 , Emmanuelle Poncin  2 , Bastiaan Van Grootven  3 , Jianan Huang  3 , Magda Osinska  3 , Serena Sibilio  3 , Lisa Kästner  3 , Simon Thuillard  2 , Lucie Vittoz  2 , Sonja Baumann  3 , Brigitte Benkert  3 , Angelika Rüttimann  3 , Anna Brambilla  1 , Gabriela Cafaro  1 , Nathalie Wellens  2 , Franziska Zúñiga  3
Affiliations

Strengthening quality of care in partnership with long-term care facilities: Protocol of the Swiss National Implementation Programme NIP-Q-UPGRADE

Nereide A Curreri et al. Inquiry. 2025 Jan-Dec.

Abstract

Quality improvement is essential in long-term care for older adults. Reporting medical quality indicators (MQI) is commonplace, but the impact on care quality improvement remains uncertain. This paper presents the Swiss National Implementation Programme - Strengthening Quality of Care in Partnership with Residential Long-Term Care Facilities (LTCF) for Older People (NIP-Q-UPGRADE), that aims to develop quality in Swiss long-term care facilities (LTCFs) by (1) strengthening robustness of MQI data, (2) supporting LTCFs in data-driven quality improvement, (3) introducing further quality indicators. The protocol for implementing the programme is outlined by work package and specific sub-aims. NIP-Q-UPGRADE is grounded in implementation science principles, using EPIS (exploration, preparation, implementation, sustainment) as a process framework and the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) for its contextual analyses, and it has a strong participatory approach. Sub-studies focus on understanding current context, leveraging expertise, developing and piloting actionable intervention bundles with corresponding strategies, and preparing a national scale-up. Methodologies include literature reviews, ethnographic research, international case studies, intervention mapping, online-surveys, participatory workshops as well as pragmatic trials. At the end of NIP-Q-UPGRADE, we expect to have intervention bundles ready to improve data quality and foster data-driven quality improvement in LTCFs and to have the field prepared with corresponding implementation strategies so that national and regional LTC organizations can plan and monitor the scale-up. NIP-Q-UPGRADE will implement strategies and inform policies for sustainable, data-driven quality development. Results will inform national quality improvement implementation applicable to global LTC policies and practices.

Keywords: long term care; older adults; quality development; quality indicators; quality of care.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Since 2015, Nathalie Wellens is a Fellow and Researcher of the interRAI Global Research Consortium. Since 2021, Franziska Zúñiga is a Member of the Swiss Federal Quality Commission. Both are service, unpaid, positions. The remaining authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

    1. European Partnership for the Wellbeing and Dignity of Older people. European quality framework for long-term care services. 2012. Accessed October 13, 2024. https://interlinks.euro.centre.org/model/example/WeDO_EuropeanPartnershi...
    1. Cès S, Coster S. Mapping long-term care quality assurance practices in the EU summary report.; 2019.
    1. Milte R, Ratcliffe J, Bradley C, Shulver W, Crotty M. Evaluating the quality of care received in long-term care facilities from a consumer perspective: development and construct validity of the consumer choice index - six dimension instrument. Ageing Soc. 2019;39(1):138-160. doi:10.1017/S0144686X17000861 - DOI
    1. Busse R, Klazinga N, Panteli D, Quentin W. Improving Healthcare Quality in Europe. HPS 53. OECD/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies; 2019. Accessed February 7, 2024. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK549276/ - PubMed
    1. Hoffmann F, Maas F, Rodrigues R, et al. Measuring progess: indicators for care homes. 2010.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources