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Background and Objectives Past research about family involvement in long-term care (LTC) homes mainly focuses on family members' involvement with their own relative, interactions with staff, and collective activities such as Family Councils. Our research provides novel insights into family member's involvement in the care of residents who are not their relatives, an area that has not previously been explored. Research Design and Methods This critical ethnographic study examined ways that family members negotiate and navigate their roles within LTC homes. Data collection and analysis took place at 3 LTC homes in British Columbia, Canada, between 2014 and 2018. Data were collected through participant observation and semistructured interviews. Eleven family member participants shared experiences of caring for residents who were not their relatives. Results The umbrella theme was "filling in," which takes place in a care environment that is understaffed and underresourced. The subthemes reflect the various ways that families are "filling in": responding to resident's needs, supporting staff to respond to resident needs, and filling in for residents' families. Discussion and Implications Caring for residents who are not their relatives is facet of family involvement in LTC homes that has not been previously explored. Many family members have expertise in providing person-centered care and they extend this expertise to residents who are not their relatives. Policies and legislation are needed to formalize family involvement in caring for nonrelative residents as it is a component of quality of care for all residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the value of family caregivers' involvement with relatives in long-term care (LTC) is well recognized, tensions remain regarding their role. Such tensions were exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic as strict public health measures restricted family access to LTC homes. Using interpretive description, we examined the impact of visitation restrictions on family caregivers' experiences caring for a relative in LTC between March 2020 and June 2021. In-depth interviews were conducted with 14 family caregivers (five spouses and nine adult daughters) and two key themes were identified. The first theme, "seeking to maintain relational continuity," illustrates how caregivers sought to sustain connections with residents prior to and during the pandemic. The second theme, "disrupted relational continuity," highlights the impact of severed relational connections on caregivers' sense of self and ongoing feelings of loss and anger. Findings call for a trauma-informed approach that recognizes the pervasiveness of trauma for family caregivers and the avoidance of re-traumatization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure to peer incivility and bullying potentially disrupts the respectful, collaborative workplace relationships essential to quality care provision in long-term care homes. This study critically examined the nature of peer incivility and bullying in residential care aides' workplace relationships. Using critical ethnography, 100 hours of participant observation and 33 semi-structured interviews were conducted with residential care aides, licensed practical nurses, support staff and management in two, non-profit care homes in British Columbia, Canada. While residential care aides' experiences of bullying were rare, peer incivility was pervasive, occurring on an almost daily basis. Two key themes, 'gendered work environment' and 'seeking informal power and control', reflect how residential care aides experienced and explained their uncivil encounters. Findings highlight the gendered, relationally aggressive nature of workplace mistreatment within this predominantly female workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives Much of the literature examining the staffing–care quality link in long-term care (LTC) homes focuses on staffing ratios; that is, how many staff are on shift. Far less attention is devoted to exploring the impact of staff members' workplace relationships, or who is on shift. As part of our work exploring workplace incivility and bullying among residential care aides (RCAs), we examined how RCAs' workplace relationships are shaped by peer incivility and bullying and the impact on care delivery. Research Design and Methods Using critical ethnography, we conducted 100 hr of participant observation and 33 semistructured interviews with RCAs, licensed practical nurses, support staff, and management in 2 nonprofit LTC homes in British Columbia, Canada. Results Three key themes illustrate the power relations underpinning RCAs' encounters with incivility and bullying that, in turn, shaped care delivery. Requesting Help highlights how exposure to incivility and bullying made RCAs reluctant to seek help from their coworkers. Receiving Help focuses on how power relations and notions of worthiness and reciprocity impacted RCAs' receipt of help from coworkers. Resisting Help/ing outlines how workplace relationships imbued with power relations led some RCAs to refuse assistance from their coworkers, led longer-tenured RCAs to resist helping newer RCAs, and dictated the extent to which RCAs provided care to residents for whom another RCA was responsible. Discussion and Implications Findings highlight "who" is on shift warrants as much attention as "how many" are on shift, offering additional insight into the staffing-care quality link. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Consistent assignment (CA) is the practice within long‐term care (LTC) by which care staff work with the same residents almost every shift for an indefinite period of time. CA is considered by many to be essential to person‐centred care. Objectives: This paper explores how staff assignment practices impact the caregiving experience from the perspectives of resident care aides (RCAs), residents and family members and, by doing so, describe the nuanced conditions under which CA may or may not be beneficial to all, and why. Methods: Data are drawn from 40 in‐depth interviews conducted as part of a larger institutional ethnography exploring the social organisation of care in three purposively selected LTC homes in Western Canada. Data analysis was based on the principles of constant comparison. Results: RCAs, residents and family members described the primary benefit of CA as being able to 'get to know' each other well and form meaningful relationships. However, the RCAs also indicated that CA can contribute to feelings of isolation, which has negative effects on worker comfort and satisfaction, care team dynamics and communication, and resident care. Conclusions: Management initiatives are needed to ensure that the implementation of CA does not result in the unintended consequences of decreasing RCAs' experience of teamwork, decreasing RCAs' exchange of individualised resident care information, or negatively impacting RCAs' ability and desire to care for each other as well as the residents. Implications for practice: The staffing practice of consistent assignment in long‐term care homes provides increased opportunities for the development of stronger staff‐resident and staff‐family member relationships. Findings from this study enable us to offer several, evidenced‐based recommendations for ensuring the successful implementation of consistent assignment, such that it may be beneficial to all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A structural basis for S-adenosylmethionine-dependent O-methyltransferase (NcsB1) activity was explored to demonstrate the overall structure of the enzyme shared with a large family of S-adenosylmethionine-dependent proteins. The cocrystallization of the NcsB1 enzyme with various combinations of the cofactor and substrate analogues established the details of the active site structure and represented NcsB1 as the first enzyme to be structurally characterized in the biosynthetic pathway of neocarzinostatin.

The structures of aminomutase Streptomyces globisporus (SgTAM) have provided evidence that 4-methylideneimidazole-5-one (MIO)-based enzymes have used covalent catalysis through the [alpha]-amine to direct the chemistry. The differentiation of the two catalytic pathways is accomplished by the retention of ammonia in the closed active site of aminomutases.

The in vivo and in vitro characterization of neocarzinostatin (NCSB2) as a promiscuous napthoic acid or a coenzyme A (CoA) ligase is described and explained in the study. Such characterization opens the pathway for the production of novel analogues of the NCS chromophore, an integral step of the biosynthesis of the enediyne antitumor antibiotic NCS.

Background and Objectives Current nursing home policy emphasizes the need for collaborative, team-based care planning in which families and/or residents are actively involved. Resident care conferences are common where care providers, families, and/or residents discuss and coordinate resident care needs and evaluate care goals. This study critically examines the process, structure, and content of care conferences to expand our understanding of how resident care is negotiated among care providers and families in this context. Research Design and Methods This study was part of a larger critical ethnography examining the negotiation of care work among care providers, families, and residents in three purposively selected nursing homes in British Columbia, Canada. Thirty-seven care conferences were observed. Field notes and interview data were thematically analyzed with a focus on what was said, who said what and to whom, whose voice was privileged, and how power manifested between care providers, families, and/or residents. Results As illustrated by three key themes, Exclusion by Process—Following Script, Exclusion by Content—Scripted Reports, and Exclusion through Devalued Knowledge, families were overtly and covertly excluded from contributing to the care conferences. As such, families' presence did not guarantee open communication or active solicitation of their perspectives. Discussion and Implications The use of predetermined agendas and processes, clinically generic reporting, and technical jargon reproduced the structural inequality between care providers and families making collaboration difficult to effectively negotiate. For care conferences to meaningfully contribute to person-centered care, it is imperative that mutual exchange be promoted and families empowered to participate as equals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]