Differences in Transitional Care Provided to Patients With and Without Dementia

Prusaczyk B, Olsen MA, Carpenter CR, Proctor E

Contributing GEDC Faculty

Chris Carpenter

MD, MSC, FACEP, FAAEM
Bio

Dr. Chris Carpenter is dual-board certified in Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine and is Professor in Emergency Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis. His funded research interests include diagnostics, dementia, falls prevention, and implementation science. He is on the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine Board of Directors as well as the American College of Emergency Physicians Clinical Policy Committee. He is also Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Academic Emergency Medicine, Associate Editor of both Annals of Internal Medicine’s ACP Journal Club and the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. He co-led the collaboration to develop the American College of Emergency Physician/American Geriatrics Society Geriatric Emergency Department Guidelines As well as the International Standards for Reporting of Implementation Research (StaRI) reporting guidelines. He is also faculty for Emergency Medical Abstracts and Best Evidence in Emergency Medicine courses, as well as a contributor to Skeptics Guide to Emergency Medicine and Sketchy EBM.

Abstract

Older adults with dementia experience more care transitions than those without dementia yet are routinely excluded from transitional care studies. The purpose of the current study was to understand the transitional care delivered to older adults with dementia compared to those without dementia. The medical charts of 210 patients (126 with dementia, 84 without dementia) 70 years and older hospitalized at a single hospital were reviewed for evidence of transitional care, including discharge planning, patient education, and follow-up appointments. Patients with dementia were significantly less likely to receive education related to their follow-up needs, whom to contact after discharge, medication regimens after discharge, and symptoms after discharge than patients without dementia. Caregivers to patients with dementia have previously reported a desire for more education and information from hospital providers so they can advocate for patients in aftercare; therefore, nurses and social workers should consider providing education regardless of a patient’s dementia diagnosis.

Full Article at Healio

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