Designing an interprofessional dementia specialty clinic: Conceptualization and evaluation of a patient-centered model

ABSTRACT

The need for blueprints to design specialty care interprofessional collaboration (IPC) models is urgent, given the expanding aging population and current challenges in dementia diagnosis and treatment. We describe key steps creating an interprofessional outpatient dementia specialty clinic, efforts to sustain the model, and evaluation of interprofessional effectiveness and clinician satisfaction. The conception for the Comprehensive Memory Center was informed by qualitative research methodologies including focus groups, interviews, and literature reviews. Quantitative evaluation included satisfaction surveys and team effectiveness measures. The IPC model diverges from typical dementia practices through its interprofessional team, visit structure, approach to decision-making, in-house services, and community collaborations. Team retreats and workshops helped build clinician knowledge of interprofessional values and practices to sustain the IPC model. In the first 3.5 years, we served nearly 750 patients and their caregivers. Team evaluation results revealed that increased access to consultation and sharing the workload and emotional burden were beneficial. The majority of team members preferred the IPC model to traditional models of clinical care.

KEYWORDS:

• Alzheimer disease
• Dementia
• Collaborative care
• Patient-centered
• Interprofessional team
• Health care

Acknowledgments

Our clinic would not be possible without the generous financial support of James and Miriam Mulva and, Mulva Family Foundation, and The Darrell K Royal Research Fund for Alzheimer’s Disease. The authors thank Shonu Ghandi, JD, Caitlin Hall, MPH, and Maya Henry, PhD for their expertise in operationalizing our clinical ideas as well as the entire Comprehensive Memory Center team, who are dedicated to providing exceptional care. Finally, our deepest gratitude is to the individuals living with dementia and their CG. Their input shaped the CMC and their stories continue to inspire us to seek excellence in dementia care.

Author contributions

Conceptualization, data collection, data analysis, drafting and revision for intellectual content: AA, RCH. Conceptualization, data collection, drafting and revision for intellectual content: KO, GA, JB, JR. Conceptualization, drafting and revision for intellectual content: KC, DP

Disclosure statement

The authors have no financial conflicts of interest to disclose.

Notes

1. Our vision statement can be view on our website: https://uthealthaustin.org/clinics/mulva-clinic-for-the-neurosciences/cognitive-disorders.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.