Can implementing person-centered care tools reduce complaints? Evidence from the implementation of PELI in Ohio nursing homes

This study explored whether nursing homes that use the Preferences for Everyday Living Inventory (PELI) receive fewer complaints than others. The PELI is a person-centered care tool that asks older adults about their important preferences. The team analyzed Ohio nursing home data and evaluated the relationship between level of PELI implementation and four complaint outcomes: any complaint, number of complaints, any substantiated complaint, and number of substantiated complaints. Nursing homes with complete PELI implementation were less likely to have any complaints (P < .05) and any substantiated complaints (P < .001) versus those that implemented the PELI partially. Complete PELI implementers were not immune from receiving complaints, but the complaints they did receive were fewer in number, and less likely to be substantiated, than for partial implementers.