Dementia care in the acute hospital setting

Alzheimer's Australia has produced a report, Dementia care in the acute hospital setting: Issues and strategies, which identifies a range of strategies to improve the outcomes for people with dementia.  People with dementia experience unacceptably worse clinical outcomes, longer lengths of stay as well as a higher likelihood for readmission compared to people without dementia at a high cost to the health care system.  To improve this situation in acute hospitals, the report outlines urgent issues that need to be addressed. These include:

• Better identification of cognitive impairment in our hospitals
• Increased training for all staff including how to communicate with a person with dementia and how to respond to behavioural and psychological symptoms
• More extensive and systematic involvement of carers as partners in the health care of people with dementia
• The creation of appropriate physical hospital environments to reduce confusion and distress of people with dementia.