Resident- and family-led huddles for collaborative care planning in long-term care: a feasibility study.

Background and Objectives: Engaging long-term care residents and families in decisions and as active partners in care can improve the quality of care. However, barriers to effective communication among the care team, residents, and families remain. This study aimed to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and satisfaction with an intervention to engage residents, their family, and team members in a collaborative approach to care planning to support person- and relationship-centered care. Research Design and Methods: A multi-method approach was utilized. The intervention included: leadership coaching sessions; an education session with team members and leaders for communication skills training; and resident- and family-led care planning conversations (huddles) that included huddle training. Results: The intervention was found to be feasible to implement and was acceptable to participants. The leadership coaching sessions and the huddles could be feasibly conducted in-person or virtually. Participants were satisfied with the leadership coaching and the huddles, and the communication tool was found to be useful. Suggestions were made to further innovate huddles. Discussion and Implications: Huddles provided a structured approach and relational process that facilitated communication among team members, residents, and families. The communication tool provided a common language for discussing resident care. The leadership coaching sessions and huddles were feasible to implement and can be adapted for virtual delivery. Huddles are a promising practice for engaging residents and families in care planning, but further testing is needed. Clinical Trial Registration: NCT04026698.