Resources for Improving Dementia Care
by Elizabeth Gomes, MS, OTR/L
California Culture Change Coalition
 

In 2012 the Partnership to Improve Dementia Care for Nursing Home Patients was formed to carry out the CMS mandate to reduce the inappropriate use of antipsychotics and improve person-centered care for individuals with dementia.  This initiative was led by the California Culture Change Coalition and funded by a grant from CMS with a contract with the California Department of Public Health.  To fulfill the goals of this program, the Partnership formed four separate workgroups: Improving Dementia Care Education, Consumer Awareness, Informed Consent and Enforcement.  Representatives from many partner agencies across the state and a wide variety of professionals have joined together and worked in these groups to achieve our aim of significantly improving care and quality of life.

The Education workgroup was tasked with developing and disseminating tools geared to educating professional caregivers about improved methods of caring for those with this disease.  To do this, the workgroup has tackled numerous projects during the two-year grant.  A website dementiacareresourceca.org/ was created to share tools for professional caregivers.  In addition, peer experts Dr. Elizabeth Landsverk, Dr. Martha Pauli, and Elaine Dempsey, have developed short, accessible webinars for physicians and nurses, pharmacists and activity directors.  These are being finalized and will be posted on the website.  Best practice resources have been gathered from groups across the country and are being regularly updated.    

The workgroup has sponsored four large educational events.  Over 600 participants attended conferences in both Sacramento and Pasadena in February 2015, with keynote speaker, Dr. Allen Power.  In July 2015 engaging and informative workshops were held in Sacramento and Pasadena featuring international dementia care expert Erin Bonitto.  Through these outreach efforts large numbers of professionals were given tools and approaches to make the difficult work of being a caregiver less stressful.  Small group presentations have been done in cooperation with HSAG, the Quality Improvement Organization in CA, and many of the groups involved in the Partnership.  These small outreach efforts have been able to get into multiple communities throughout the state.

A tip sheet for nurses is being finalized to aid them in the correct identification and documentation of behavior monitors and side effects of psychoactive medication.  This will be available on the website and we hope to make it widely available in skilled nursing facilities throughout the state.  These are some of the many projects of the Education workgroup of the Partnership.  Many people have contributed their time and expertise because they passionately share the belief that all individuals deserve quality of life, and they desire to share the tools with others to make that dream a reality.  We urge everyone to access the tools we have developed and to contact us with any questions through the website.

For more information, please contact the California Culture Change Coalition at: [email protected] or visit:

dementiacareresourceCA.org

calculturechange.org