Policy Updating & Lessons Learned during the Pandemic

Older adults living in Ontario’s long-term care (LTC) homes have experienced some of the most devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, including disproportionate deaths, prolonged isolation from family and essential caregivers and reduced quality of life. In response, national and provincial associations and organizations have launched inquiries, issued expert reports, and offered recommendations.

Many inquiries, reports, and legislative reforms have been released in response to multiple waves of the COVID-19 pandemic nationally and provincially. The volume of analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on LTC presents a challenge to decision-makers to identify and prioritize key areas for improvement and action. Many lessons have been learned through the devastation that the COVID-19 pandemic caused in LTC homes that should be used as the guiding principle for driving sustained change. Care for residents of LTC homes needs to be reformed and reimagined with the core theme of providing care that is person-centered and delivers the best quality of life for residents. Building on the lessons learned during the is pandemic in each of the five identified areas of focus (enhancing staffing, reducing crowding, ensuring connections, incorporating palliative care and optimizing IPAC) is critical to creating sustained and meaningful change. Having high-quality and current data is important across all five areas of focus. Decision-makers can improve the quality of care for residents in LTC homes by enhancing existing directives, standards, and legislation.

We identified five critical lessons learned: 

1) Enhance the entry and retention of LTC home staff through the creation of more full-time positions, adequate staffing levels, and improvement of working conditions, 

2) Reduce crowding through the elimination of three and four bed ward rooms and creation of more private rooms with dedicated bathrooms, 

3) Maintain the ability for essential caregivers to have in-person access to the resident, 

4) Ensure residents have access to timely and high-quality palliative care that promotes both quality and length of life, and 

5) Build and maintain infection prevention and control (IPAC) expertise within LTC homes and update all existing education and policy literature

Long term care policies are an integral aspect of maintaining safe and effective homes, one that helps shape and protect the health and well-being of our population. Policy impacts issues as fundamental as healthcare access, cost, delivery methods, and privacy. It involves the rules and regulations set forth by lawmakers on a local and federal level. As a current healthcare worker, you should know what these policies are, how it works, and why it’s important—so that you can use your expertise to help shape new policies. Or if you’re a health administrator, your understanding and involvement in health policy will help you optimize current policies and guide teams to follow them. The term “policy” refers to the decisions, goals, and actions that determine how care is administered and accessed.¹  For example, policies can include legal and safety regulations by state or protocols regarding how care and medicine are delivered to patients at a specific hospital. “Healthcare policy” also refers to the policies set on a national level, in terms of access to healthcare, coverage, and cost. These long-term care policies are important because they help establish guidelines that benefit residents, healthcare organizations, and the healthcare system. Having protocols in place can help prevent human error and poor communication around medical decisions. For nurses and health administrators, understanding and following policies can help ensure that you deliver the best care to the residents while using your knowledge to help inform future policies.