Use of a Robot in Medication Management for Older People's Home Care

Unrecognized Condition

home-care professional, medication management, older people's home care, robot, working time

Non-randomized controlled clinical trial was used. Data were collected using the Working Time Tracking Form in three data collection points (baseline, at 1 month and at 2 month). The participants were home care professionals who carried out home care clients' medication management. Home care clients were allocated into intervention and control groups (n=64 and 46, respectively) based on whether or not they used the robot. The statistical analysis methods were used.

The data were collected using a Working Time Tracking Form, which was developed by professional team for this study. The team included senior lecturer in nursing with medication management competence, head of older people's home care, and home care professional working in older people's home care. The content of the Time Tracking Form was founded on previous literature about the medication management process in home care. The research protocol was planned by the authors before the study and it can be accessed from the corresponding authors on a reasonable request. The home care professionals filled in the Working Time Tracking Form the time in minutes they used for each phase of process i.e. ordering medications, dispensing medications to the doset or dispensing medications to the robot, reconstitution medications, administration of medications in tablets, administration of medications in other routes, medication education, and monitoring the effects of medications. The Working Time Tracking Form was filled in from each client and from each home visit, which included medication management for a five-day period in baseline and in follow up after one and two months. The expert panel evaluated, and pilot group pre-tested the Time Tracking Form's content validity. The expert panel consisted of seven participants: one head of home care, three home care professionals, and two senior lecturers in nursing with medication management competence, and one statistician. Panel members evaluated each item focusing on usability, but they did not find revision. A pre-test (answers were not included in this study) was performed with 10 home care professionals having the experience using the robot for medication management in older people's home care. This helped evaluate how understandable and clear the Time Tracking Form's content was and how long time it took to be completed. The SPSS v.26 software was used to analyse data.The characteristics of sample were reported using descriptive statistics including frequencies, percentages, medians, mean values, and standard deviation.

Finland