Article: Patient and Caregiver Benefit From a Comprehensive Dementia Care Program
The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society has published an article, "Patient and Caregiver Benefit From a Comprehensive Dementia Care Program: 1-Year Results From the UCLA Alzheimer's and Dementia Care Program."
"The clinical manifestations of Alzheimer disease and related dementias (ADRDs) are protean and devastating, including cognitive impairment, immobility and falls, swallowing disorders and aspiration pneumonia, and behavioral symptoms (eg, agitation, aggression, and hallucinations). These sequelae often lead to caregiver stress, burnout, and medical illnesses. Thus, ADRDs can be considered the archetype for a disorder with complex needs that span both the patient and caregiver, include medical and social domains, and require health system and community-based interventions."
"The UCLA ADC Program is a health system-based comanagement model of nurse practitioner (NP) dementia care managers (DCMs) working with primary care and specialty physicians. Increasingly, clinical programs are being evaluated on their ability to meet the triple aim of better care, better health, and lower costs. We have previously reported the effect of the UCLA ADC Program on the quality of dementia care and Medicare costs. In this article, we report 1-year patient and caregiver clinical outcomes and predictors of clinical benefit of the program."
The UCLA ADC Program is currently being supported by The John A. Hartford Foundation through a grant to disseminate the benefits of the Program and to increase health system uptake.
To read the article, click here.
To learn more about JAHF support of the UCLA ADC Program, click here.
