The Department of Geriatrics and Long-Term Care at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) has teamed up with Hamad Healthcare Quality Institute (HHQI) and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) to implement an evidence-based approach designed to promote age-friendly care that addresses the unique needs and wants of older adults.

Through the implementation of an age-friendly health system, the programme aims to support a better quality of life for older adults in Qatar.

Becoming an age-friendly health system entails reliably providing a set of four evidence-based elements of high-quality care, known as the ‘4Ms’ to all older adults in a system.

The ‘4Ms’ are (1) What Matters - recognition of older adult’s specific care preferences; (2) Medication - reviewing medication holistically from a more age-friendly perspective; (3) Mentation - prevent, identify, treat, and manage dementia, depression, and delirium across settings of care; (4) Mobility - encouraging daily movement in older adults to help them maintain function.

Several workshops were recently convened with leading members from the Geriatric and Long-Term care team, along with expert enablers from HHQI and IHI to develop the implementation of an Age-Friendly Health System at HMC.Dr Abdulla Al Ansari, chief medical Officer at HMC said he was pleased to see the significant progress made during the Age-Friendly Health Systems Collaborative meetings.

He said, “This evidence-based approach will enhance the care delivered to older patients in Qatar.The collaboration between our Geriatric team, the Quality Improvement advisors and IHI will enable HMC to spread knowledge about age-friendly healthcare systems and build capacity and capability within the organisation, and we will be happy to share our knowledge with others outside our organisation.”

Dr Hanadi Al Hamad, National Health Strategy Lead for Healthy Ageing, chairperson for Geriatrics and Long-Term Care at HMC, and medical director at Rumailah Hospital and the Qatar Rehabilitation Institute, said this collaborative complements the extensive work that has been carried out to deliver more specialised, evidence-based healthcare to Qatar’s older population.

“We have come a long way in our efforts to provide more targeted and integrated geriatric care that addresses the specific needs and wants of our patient population. The ‘4Ms’ provide a framework for us to build on the work we have done so far and enable us to imbed age-friendly system concepts across HMC,” said Dr Hamad. “This work aligns with the work that is being carried out within the WHO Collaborating Centre for Healthy Ageing and Dementia, which was recently established as a partnership between the WHO and the Department of Geriatrics and Long-Term Care at HMC.”

She added, “We are pleased to partner with the HHQI and IHI experts who are sharing resource tools and best practice methodology that will enable us to spread the knowledge to a wider audience to support our efforts to provide the best care possible to older people across Qatar.” The Age-Friendly Health Systems Collaborative in Qatar aims to improve access to health care to enhance health outcomes and the quality of life for older adults. A key focus is on using resources, tools, and best practices that are tried and tested, and this expertise is being provided by HHQI. Jointly, the HHQI faculty and geriatric healthcare teams are promoting cross-collaboration among facilities and teams to share ideas, successes, and opportunities for improvement.

Nasser Al Naimi, deputy chief of Quality and director at Hamad Healthcare Quality Institute (HHQI) and the Centre for Patient Experience and Staff Engagement (CPESE), said Age-Friendly Health Systems deliver a framework of evidence-based practices that can be implemented by healthcare systems wanting to deliver better care to a population group that is often more vulnerable.

HE said, “Our goal is to enhance patient safety and align the care we provide to our older adults to what matters to them, their family and caregivers. We have multiple programmes of work that support this goal. The Age-Friendly Health Systems Collaborative is one approach that aligns with the Flow Collaborative work that has been progressing for several years. Recognising the unique needs of older geriatric patients, the Flow Collaborative also addresses the aim to deliver the ‘Right care’ in the ‘Right place’ at the ‘Right time’.”

“At HHQI, we have developed a team of healthcare improvement advisors who are committed to sharing their knowledge and skills of IHI improvement methodologies to enable transformations in care that will benefit current and future patient groups. The 4Ms framework was presented at the recently held Middle East Forum on Quality and Safety, which represented a step in our efforts to promote awareness and training among a wider audience of healthcare professionals,” added Naimi.

Age-Friendly Health Systems is an initiative of The John A. Hartford Foundation and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), in partnership with the American Hospital Association (AHA) and the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA), designed to meet this challenge head on.

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