Are we Providing the Best Possible Care for Dementia Patients?

Abstract

Healthcare for patients with dementia is often reactive, poorly organized and fragmented. We discuss opportunities for improvements in the care of individuals living with dementia at home that can be implemented by physicians in their practices today. In particular, we argue that systematic identification and diagnosis of cognitive impairment and dementia in their early stages, coupled with a coherent, evidence-informed management framework, would benefit patients with dementia substantially and ease the burden of their caregivers. We emphasize that dementia influences all aspects of patient care, and each medical decision must be passed through the filter of knowledge that patients with dementia have special needs that can be identified and addressed.

Interventions to optimise transitional care coordination for older people living with dementia and concomitant multimorbidity and their caregivers: A systematic review

“…Impaired functioning increases the complexity of putting in place transitional care arrangements that unifies dementia and multimorbidity care delivery across sites and health professionals. The current 'one-size-fits-all' approach to service delivery needs to be tailored to accommodate the needs of older people living with dementia (Borisovskaya et al, 2015;Naylor, 2012;World Health Organisation, 2016a). Due to the functional decline over the disease trajectory of dementia, individuals have specific care needs and assistance, increased risk of fragmentation of care, poor ability to vocalise their needs, and are often placed in long-term care (Bellantonio et al, 2008;Cloutier et al, 2017).…”