Table 4.

Recommendations to Improve Care Delivery for Persons With Dementia.

Recommendations

1. Ensuring adequate staffing on acute medical units: “add additional staffing Organizations should ensure that acute medical units are adequately staffed with nurses and one-on-one providers (i.e., personal support workers and Bartimaeus workers).

2. Increasing support from BSO: “having them [BSO] more frequently on the floor” Organizations should increase support from BSO to help in providing expertise and evidence-based recommendations for staff in delivering care for persons with responsive behaviors.

3. Providing more educational reinforcements: “more courses” Organizations should not only offer more opportunities for nurses to receive dementia care education and in-services in dementia care, but they should also implement strategies to enhance uptake of education and provide continuous educational reinforcements (e.g., semiannual or annual review of educational training and refresher courses).

4. Implementing more family and team meetings: “it would be beneficial for us to be included” Organizations should implement more family and team meetings and ensure that nurses attend these meetings.

5. Creating a safe unit: “a unit … that will cater for these patients” Organizations should create a safe acute care unit that focuses on dementia care and ensure that staff are adequately prepared in responding to responsive behaviors.

Note. BSO = Behavioural Supports Ontario.