Individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias have 3.2 million hospital stays annually, which is significantly more than older individuals without dementia. Hospitalized patients with dementia are at greater risk of delirium, falls, overwhelming functional decline that may extend the hospital stay, and prolonged and/ or complicated rehabilitation. These risks support the need for staff education on the special care needs of this vulnerable population. In this article we describe a full-day educational program, the Dementia Friendly Hospital Initiative, designed to teach staff how to provide the specialized care required by patients with dementia. Participants (N=355) from five different hospitals, including 221 nurses, completed a pre-test/ post-test evaluation for the program. Changes in participants’ attitudes/ practices, confidence, and knowledge were evaluated. Scores indicated significant improvement on the post-test. The evaluation provides further evidence for recommending dissemination of the DFHI program.

Education of families, professionals, and transportation specialists is needed to understand the influence of AD severity on driving abilities, identify problem driving behaviors, make appropriate referrals of unsafe drivers, and access available resources for drivers with AD and those most responsible for their safety.

This article reports on a phenomenological study of 15 family caregivers who admitted their spouse or parent with probable Alzheimer’s disease to long-term care. The caregivers were attuned to the needs, desires, moods and concerns of their family members with dementia; thus, they were attuned to personhood. Caregivers also reported observations of care by nurses and nursing staff. Observations were of individualized care and actions that promoted personhood and impoverished care delivered with minimal or no communication. These family caregivers’ perspectives can inform the care of individuals with advanced dementia by nurses and nursing staff.

Demented individuals, very mild and mild, understood informed consent information for this nontreatment research study. Understanding notably declined in the moderate stage of dementia. Brief tests may be useful as one method to assess understanding of the consent process for specific studies.

Aim-This paper is a report of a study to establish the inter-rater reliability of advanced practice nurse and neurologist neurological assessments which included ratings with the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale-Motor Exam.Background-Around the world, advanced practice nurses are performing tasks once completed by only physicians. To promote consumer and provider confidence, it is important to establish that nurse and physician ratings using assessment tools are similar. In addition in research settings,