A Review of Interprofessional Dissemination and Education Interventions for Recognizing and Managing Dementia

Abstract

The number of individuals with dementia is expected to increase dramatically over the next 20 years. Given the complicated clinical, sociobehavioral, and caregiving skills that are needed to comprehensively assess and manage individuals with dementia, the gold standard of care requires involvement of interprofessional teams. This systematic review examined 4,023 abstracts, finding 18 articles from 16 studies where an interprofessional dissemination program was performed. Most studies found some improvement in clinician knowledge or confidence, or patient outcomes, though methods and patient and clinician populations were disparate. Although a significant evidence base for assessing and managing individuals with dementia has been developed, few studies have examined how to disseminate this research, and even fewer in an interprofessional manner. These findings suggest that greater emphasis needs to be placed on disseminating existing evidence-based care and ensuring that programs are interprofessional in nature so that excellent, patient-centered care is provided.

Keywords:

• dementia education
• diffusion of innovations
• dissemination science
• educational outcomes
• interdisciplinary education
• interdisciplinary training
• interprofessional education
• translational research

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the National Palliative Care Research Council (PI: Abraham A. Brody), the Mount Sinai Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center (grant no. P30 AG028741, PI: Abraham A. Brody), and the National Institute on Aging (grant nos. P30 AG008051 and R01 AG040211, PI: James E. Galvin).