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

Abstract

The current project tested the feasibility and utility of the CARES® Dementia-Friendly Hospital™ (CDFH) program, a 4-module, online training program for nursing assistants (NAs) and allied hospital workers (AHWs) who provide care to individuals with dementia. A single group pretest/posttest design was used for 25 hospital NAs/AHWs, and quantitative and qualitative data were collected to determine whether NAs’/AHWs’ knowledge of hospital-based dementia care significantly increased, and if CDFH was perceived as useful and acceptable. Dementia care knowledge increased significantly (p < 0.001). Open- and closed-ended data suggested that the delivery of online training to NAs/AHWs to enhance dementia care is feasible, useful, and efficient. Ongoing gaps in care exist for individuals with dementia in hospitals, and delivering robust training for NAs/AHWs may serve as an effective modality to enhance quality of dementia care in such settings.

The effectiveness of interventions to improve the care and management of people with dementia in general hospitals: A systematic review

“…All interventions were delivered on the ward, other than one study where the training was delivered online for staff to access at home . The majority (13/24, 54%) of studies evaluated multicomponent staff educational interventions aiming to improve dementia care on the ward (medical model of dementia, approaches to communication and behaviour, dementia‐friendly care, connecting with the carer, communicating with patients, dementia‐related behaviour, wandering and falls, managing BPSD, nutrition and hydration, importance of activities, falls management, and end‐of‐life care), followed by person‐centred care (3/24), specialist geriatric medical ward, improving communication and relationship (using experiential learning therapy with actors trained to portray patients living with dementia) between staff and family carers, and creative music therapy . One technology‐based intervention was a humanoid robot for psychomotor therapy.…”

A systematic review of interventions to improve acute hospital care for people with dementia

“…In total, 19 articles met the inclusion criteria (see the flow chart in Figure 1). Most of the interventional studies had a before-after design [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] (n = 9). One was a cluster-randomised controlled trial [29], one used a repeated measures design [30] and three were controlled clinical trials [31][32][33].…”

“…Of the interventional studies, five studies were conducted in Australia [22,23,28,32,33], four in the United States [20,24,29,30], two in the United Kingdom [21,26] and one each in Canada [31], Germany [27] and Switzerland [25]. All five systematic reviews were carried out in the UK [14,15,[34][35][36].…”

“…One was targeted to prepare nurses and change leader nurses for the implementation of a systematic nurse-caregiver conversation [28]. One educational intervention was an online training programme for nursing assistants and allied healthcare workers and contained information on dementia-friendly principles, communication and wandering and falls [24]. The volunteer educational programme studied by Eggenberger et al [27] included contents, such as the life situations of older people, communication, dying in hospital, activities with people with dementia and the role and identity of volunteers.…”

“…Four interventional studies identified a significant effect regarding knowledge of healthcare staff [24,26,28] or volunteers [27]. There was a significant increase in knowledge after the end of a two-day communication training course for nurses, doctors and allied health professionals [26] and after an online training tool for nursing assistants and allied health workers [24]. The systematic reviews of Abley et al [14] and Scerri et al [34] showed mixed results, though most included studies showed significant improvement in knowledge.…”