JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

A bstractDem entia Care M apping (DCM , Kitwood & Bredin, 1994a) was incorporated into the Quality Assurance Strategy of an urban British Mental Health (NHS) Trust. Its role as an audit of the outcome of the care process in formal dementia care settings was evaluated. DCM was used in two day hospitals, an assessment ward, two respite care units and four continuing care units over three annual evaluation cycles. This equated to approximately 1,614 hours of m apping over the three cycles. The way in which DC M was used is described in detail. The results were generally very positive with improvements in the quality of care practice being demonstrated. Although anxious about the observational nature of DCM , staff viewed it as a positive means of improving quality of care. DCM is seen as being a highly appropriate audit tool to use in NHS formal dementia care settings. Information on the experience of managing a DCM project is shared. detailed ethological observations of dementia suffe rers in a wide variety of settingsThe values which underpin D CM are based on T om Kitwood' s social-psychological theory of person-hood in dementia (K itwood, 1993). T his theory asserts that although the disease processes underlying dem entia leads to a degeneration of cognitive functioning, this does not of itself cause individuals to disintegrate from a psychological and emotional point of view . The disintegration occurs largely as a result of the destructive psycho -so cial environm ent in w hich people with dem entia ® nd themselves. T he disintegration m ay be am eliorated or hastened by the personality or past coping mechanism s that the suffe rer em ploys. It is argued that if the social environm ent can lead to a disintegration of the person' s sense of self and personal worth, then the reverse should also be true.Good dementia care, in this context, is that which enables the person to feel supported, valued and socially con® dent. T he achievement of this is dependent upon the skills of the staff providing that care. D C M attempts to m easure the positive and negative aspects of the psycho -social environm ent. D CM is ground breaking w ork. The ª N ew Culture of D em entia Careº (Kitwood & Benson, 1995;Kitwood, 1997) has inspired m any practitioners w ho were dissatis® ed with the lack of sophistication in m odels of care for this client group.D uring a D CM evaluation each m apper observes between ® ve to ten participants continuously over a representative time period (e.g. six hours during the

Since the publication of “A Compendium of Strategies to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections in Acute Care Hospitals” in 2008, prevention of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) has become a national priority. Despite improvements, preventable HAIs continue to occur. The 2014 updates to the Compendium were created to provide acute care hospitals with up-to-date, practical, expert guidance to assist in prioritizing and implementing their HAI prevention efforts. They are the product of a highly collaborative effort led by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), the American Hospital Association (AHA), the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), and The Joint Commission, with major contributions from representatives of a number of organizations and societies with content expertise, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS), the Society for Critical Care Medicine (SCCM), the Society for Hospital Medicine (SHM), and the Surgical Infection Society (SIS).

No abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.