Dementia Care Practice Recommendations

The new Dementia Care Recommendations are meant for “professional care providers who work with individuals living with dementia and their families in residential and community based care settings” and are available online for download.

The published document contains 10 articles that that cover the Alzheimer’s Association 2018 Dementia Care Practice Recommendations. Within the articles are 56 recommendations for providing dementia care with specific details on each recommendation.

Recommendations offered include new guidance to nonphysician residential and community-based care providers on detection, diagnosis and ongoing medical management. Typically these have been topic areas usually reserved for clinicians.

Person-Centered Focus Is The Core Of Quality Care

Person-centered care, Detection and diagnosis, Assessment and care planning, are just some of the “Person Centered Focus” points mentioned on the Alzheimer’s Associations webpage announcing the new recommendations. And the Practice Recommendations are published as a February 2018 supplement to The Gerontologist.

On the website with the announcement of the Recommendations you will see a colored chart and bullet points that illustrate how each aspect of care is “focused” and “centered” around the dementia patient. Also on the webpage is a short video giving an overview of the Dementia Care Practice Recommendations.

Perspectives Of People Living With Dementia

Along with the announcement is a downloadable 20 page guide, “A GUIDE TO QUALITY CARE FROM THE PERSPECTIVES OF PEOPLE LIVING WITH DEMENTIA”

The graphic document Themes in Quality Care and includes many sections titled “PERSPECTIVES OF PEOPLE LIVING WITH DEMENTIA”. These are written in order to give a caregiver a viewpoint of what the patient with dementia may be thinking and how to address an aspect of care to address that point of view.

The announcement and the related downloads and video can be viewed on the Alzheimer’s Association website here:

Dementia Care Practice Recommendations

The guide and the recommendations have the goal of helping a person practicing person-centered care better support individuals with dementia and their families and enhance their overall quality life throughout the course of the disease.