The Dementia Friendly Hospital Initiative Education Program for Acute Care Nurses and Staff

Abstract

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.

Feasibility and Utility of Online Dementia Care Training for Hospital Staff: The CARES ® Dementia-Friendly Hospital ™ Program

“…Even if dementia is recognized by NAs/AHWs (which is not always the case), the care provided often does not meet standards of person-centered, best practice approaches that can alleviate the consequences of the behavioral, psychiatric, and emotional symptoms related to cognitive impairment in acute care settings (Clissett et al, 2013; Gaugler & Wocken, 2014). Such gaps in care suggest the need for increased and enhanced training for NAs/AHWs to improve skills, knowledge, and confidence, with the aim of enhancing quality of care overall for individuals with dementia (Bray et al, 2015; Elvish et al, 2016; Gillies et al, 2015; Luxford et al, 2015; Palmer et al, 2014; Smythe et al, 2014; Surr et al, 2016; Teodorczuk et al, 2014). The current study contributes to this area by presenting a more portable, potentially cost-efficient approach to training NAs/AHWs in hospitals via the CDFH.…”

“…To help improve hospital-based dementia care, several educational programs and approaches (often provided over the course of several days) have attempted to enhance NAs’/AHWs’ training (Bray et al, 2015; Elvish et al, 2016; Galvin et al, 2010; Gillies, Coker, Montemuro, & Pizzacalla, 2015; Luxford et al, 2015; Palmer et al, 2014; Surr, Smith, Crossland, & Robins, 2016; Teodorczuk, Mukaetova-Ladinska, Corbett, & Welfare, 2014). However, dissemination of evidence-based training has been limited due to the necessity of costly in-person delivery.…”

An Education Intervention to Enhance Staff Self-Efficacy to Provide Dementia Care in an Acute Care Hospital in Canada

“…In the single study where delivery methods were well described, content specific to prevention and management of emotional stress experienced by patients with dementia-related NDB was not evident. 53 …”

Training of Formal Caregivers Dealing with Alzheimer Diseased Patients at Helwan City Cairo Egypt

“…As well [19], Canada, who indicated that, significant improvement on the posttest participants' attitudes, practices, confidence, and knowledge [14], emphasized that the highest percentage of nurses' knowledge were unsatisfactory and immediately improved after implementation of the guidelines.…”