Improving Hospital Care for Persons with Dementia

What happens when a person with dementia is hospitalized? It is usually a fall, a hip fracture, a serious infection, or an acute exacerbation of congestive heart failure, diabetes, or another chronic medical condition that precipitates hospitalization, not the person's demenetia. This book provides insights into the issues and gaps in quality of hospital care for patients with dementia.

The book will helps practitioners improve the experiences that patients with dementia encounter in acute care settings by offering actual case examples provided by managers of assisted living, emergency rooms, and community geriatric cases; by persons with dementia who live alone; and by other doctors and nurses who care for these patients. These case examples illustrate the challenges faced and suggest strategies for successful and appropriate treatment planning.

This book will be useful for all hospital practitioners who encounter patients with dementia, from administrators, to nurses, social workers, physicians, gerontologists, and psychologists.