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Community-based health care providers, such as physicians, nurse practitioners and others, should be aware of services and resources to help people living at home with dementia as well as their caregivers. A review in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) aims to provide guidance to health care providers as well as government and health system planners, based on recent evidence.
"All health care providers should be aware of their local resources for dementia and which services may be most beneficial for their patients and caregivers," writes Dr. Dallas Seitz, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, with coauthors. "Health system planners and policy-makers should be aware of services that have been shown to be beneficial for people and plan to meet the increasing demand for these services in the future."
In Canada, over 500 000 people are affected by dementia, and society spends $15 billion annually caring for this population.
Highlights of the review:
Some parts of Canada may currently have limited access to supports mentioned in the review.
"The identification and care of community-dwelling people with dementia and their caregivers is complex and will often involve multiple supports and services to optimize outcomes. Existing guideline recommendations for dementia and high-quality evidence underscore that community-level multicomponent supports, including caregiver education and training programs, some forms of respite programs and case management approaches for dementia, are effective in delaying admission to long-term care settings for older adults with dementia and reducing caregiver stress," the authors conclude.
"Care of community-dwelling older adults with dementia and their caregivers" is published July 3, 2018.
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Canadian Medical Association Journal