Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice Model for Dementia in Acute Care

Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice Model for Dementia in Acute Care: Development, Implementation and Evaluation

The purpose of this study is to develop an interprofessional education and practice model for acute care related to dementia and evaluate its effectiveness of implementation.

The researchers will recruit participants from a medical center (experimental group) and two regional hospitals (control group) in southern Taiwan. Both the experimental group and the control group will contain 150 healthcare professionals and 64 patients with dementia. Both of the groups will receive a six-hour dementia care course. Then, only the experimental group will receive a half-day interprofessional education workshop, maintain a six-month interprofessional practice model, and join interprofessional practice experience-sharing conferences. The evaluation of outcomes will include the analyses of healthcare professionals' knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy of dementia care. The evaluation times are to be before and after the dementia care course and after the six months of interprofessional practice. The other evaluation of outcome is comparison of the outcomes of hospitalized patients with dementia between the two groups before the interprofessional education workshop and after the interprofessional practice.

The experimental group will not only receive six-hour dementia care course, but also a half-day interprofessional education workshop, maintain a six-month interprofessional practice model, and join interprofessional practice experience-sharing conferences.

six-hour dementia care course, half-day interprofessional education workshop, and interprofessional practice

testing the change of professionals' Dementia Care Knowledge. The minimum value of this scale is 0, and the maximum value is 16. Higher scores mean having better Dementia Care Knowledge.

Before education program(pre-intervention), after education program(10 months), after the workshop(10 months), after the six months interprofessional practice(post intervention)[about 8 months]

testing professionals' dementia self-efficacy. The scale has not developed yet. It will be developed and test the reliability and validity in this study.

Before education program(pre-intervention), after education program(10 months), after the workshop(10 months), after the six months interprofessional practice(post intervention)[about 8 months]

understand the treatment outcomes of hospitalized patients with dementia before the interventions six months and after interventions six months.

understand the treatment outcomes of hospitalized patients with dementia before the interventions six months and after interventions six months.

understand the treatment outcomes of hospitalized patients with dementia before the interventions six months and after interventions six months.

understand the treatment outcomes of hospitalized patients with dementia before the interventions six months and after interventions six months.

Inclusion Criteria: healthcare professionals having worked for 3 months or more emergency/hospitalized patients with dementia patients diagnosed dementia scoring 1 or more in Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR). Exclusion Criteria: healthcare professionals working in obstetrics, pediatrics, outpatient, or hemodialysis.