Introduction & Overview Partnerships to Improve Care and Quality of Life for Persons with Dementia Welcome to the Partnerships to Improve Care and Quality of Life for Persons with Dementia training series. This first module provides a brief introduction and overview of what the training series is about, and how it overlaps with a companion training program for family caregivers.
Partnerships to Improve Care Training builds on a UI nursing study Study focus: Family Involvement in Care (FIC) intervention Staff-family partnerships are essential to high quality dementia care Evidence-based practice guideline called Family Involvement in Care for Persons with Dementia guides the training series The Partnerships to Improve Care training series builds on a study that was conducted at the University of Iowa College of Nursing. The study evaluated an intervention called Family Involvement in Care, which emphasizes family and staff caregivers working as partners to provide high quality dementia care. The intervention is described in the evidence-based guideline, Family Involvement in Care for Persons with Dementia. A main principle in the guideline is that both family and staff caregivers need training in order to be effective partners in providing dementia care.
Partnerships to Improve Care Purpose of the training series: Support use of the FIC intervention in daily practice! Help staff to . . . Develop new skills to work with families as a team Engage families in the care of their loved one Use person-centered care approaches in daily care This training series is designed to support and assist staff caregivers to understand and use practices in the guideline by gaining skills to work with families, and to provide person-centered care. The companion training program for family caregivers is designed to help family members gain skills to work with YOU, also with the aim of improving care!
Family Involvement in Care Main components of the FIC intervention Orienting family to the care environment Educating staff Negotiating & forming a PARTNERSHIP Educating family Following up to evaluate success & renegotiate as needed Education for family and staff is a main focus in the intervention! The Family Involvement in Care intervention consists of education and communication skill building for both the families and the staff. Additional content focuses on important discussions about being PARTNERS in care, a partnership that is “negotiated” to meet both staff and family’s needs. In the study, the partnership-focused education and discussion led to improved attitudes of both the families and the staff, AND improved quality of care for the person with dementia!!
Staff-Family Partnerships Help family and staff understand each other Improve communication & relationships between families and staff Increase family satisfaction Increase employee job satisfaction Promote quality of care for the person with dementia The intervention has resulted in many positive outcomes – for family members, for staff, and for the person with dementia. Satisfaction increased for everyone involved as a result of training staff and family to use the partnership model in daily practice. The study demonstrated that training staff and family made a big difference. We hope to achieve similar positive outcomes and benefits with our two training programs – one designed for family, and other for staff – but both using the same principles about being partners in care.
Staff-Family Partnerships Emphasize person-centered focus Promote “goal-directed” care Maintain person focus in care Advance “Knowing the person” with dementia Adapt to changes/changing goals over time Promote high quality dementia care by working as a TEAM The Family Involvement in Care intervention is focused on promoting the best care for the person with dementia. We dedicate three modules to providing person-centered care to best assure the person with dementia is at the center of all discussions.
Designed to change practice Supports practices in the Family Involvement in Dementia Care evidence-based guideline Works alongside family-focused training series Best used as a series Targets daily care providers and leaders both Instructors Manual: Help to put ideas into practice The content in this series builds on information in the evidence-based guideline. We’ll refer to materials in the guideline from time-to-time since there is even MORE information there! And as before, family and staff caregivers BOTH need training, so remember that information in this series works hand-in-hand with a series developed specifically for family caregivers. We also want to highlight that the training is best used as a series since the content and ideas build as you move from one topic to the next. The content targets both daily care providers, but also organizational leaders who influence use of practices in daily care. Ideas for using the training, and for using partnership approaches in practice settings, are outlined in the Instructors Manual that is part of the training series.
Target Audience Training is relevant to diverse formal caregivers! Nursing assistants, direct care workers, others Provide vast majority of daily care Assist to know the person with dementia Support to view family as allies & team members Nurse leaders, administrators Direct care policies & practices Decide how FIC intervention is used in the setting The training modules and materials can be used by a diverse group of staff caregivers. Our main focus is to help direct care workers gain new skills – to “know” the person with dementia and to work with family members as their allies and team-mates. We also know that leaders in the care setting or service often make important decisions about how training is used, and also how training is used in practice!
Target Settings Lots of settings may use the training! Home health care Assisted living/residential care Nursing facility care Memory care (assisted living or nursing facility) Adult day health programs Rehabilitation programs/transitional care Although the original Family Involvement in Care intervention was evaluated in nursing home settings, it can also be adapted for use in a wide variety of settings and services that provide dementia care. And since family members are almost always involved in their relative’s care and services, it makes great sense to engage them as partners!
On your time and at your pace 11 additional short modules with built-in activities Video clips Tips from caregivers Discussion questions Real life scenarios Web-based Easy to access in group setting or individually We know staff caregivers are busy, so this training series is designed to fit people’s differing needs. In addition to this overview, there are 11 topics and each is roughly 10-15 minutes in length. Each module contains supportive information, such as short videos of caregivers, handouts to support partnership approaches, and discussion questions. Because the modules are short, they can be viewed one at-a-time, or several in sequence. It’s up to you and your organization to decide what works best. The series is web-based for easy access, and can be viewed alone or in a group setting. As before, the Instructors’ Manual helps users make decisions about using the content to meet individual learning needs or organizational goals.
Staff-focused modules Understanding Changing Needs Role Changes for Families Interacting with Family Members Staff-Family Partnerships: First Steps Negotiation in Dementia Care Forming a Partnership Agreement Person-Centered Care Overview Staying Person-Centered Knowing the Person with Dementia Goal-Directed Care Comfort Care in Dementia Care The first six topics in the training series are drawn right from the evidence-based Family Involvement in Care guideline. The first three topics help staff caregivers better understand challenges that family members face in caring for a loved one with dementia. This content supports the NEED for partnership models. The next three topics are about the family-staff partnership approach, and how to use it in practice. The remaining modules focus on person-centered and goal-directed dementia care – the primary goal is tailoring care to fit the individual‘s interests, preferences and needs.
Complimentary Training Advancing Care Partnerships: Family Involvement in Care Complimentary family-focused training on FIC intervention & partnerships Access at Iowa Geriatric Education Center (IGEC) https://igec.uiowa.edu/ Additional dementia education Check supportive materials As before, the staff training program is designed to work “hand-in-hand” with the family-focused series that addresses Family Involvement in Care and partnership approaches. Because this training series is squarely focused on family involvement, it compliments – but doesn’t replace – dementia training that focus both understanding and managing dementia. Additional resources for high quality, low cost dementia training are provided in supportive materials that accompany this introductory module.
Summary Consider the options for training use Instructors Manual outlines options Individual on-line use? Group training? Family-focused training offered to family? Staff-family partnership process becomes part of “usual care”? In closing, we highly recommend that each learner consider what his or her goals are for using the training series since there are lots of options! As the Instructors’ Manual outlines, the short modules can be used by individual staff, or provided as a group program that is led by a staff education leader. You can also help family members find and use the companion training program, or select specific modules from that series as a guide to discussions with them. And while the training itself does a good job of framing common challenges and solutions, the best use is to adopt the partnership model as part of usual care in your healthcare setting.
Let’s get started! Our first topic is titled “Understanding Changing Needs” Varying types of dementia Characteristics of the disease progression Important foundation for staff to help families understand changing needs The first topic in the series is titled “Understanding Changing Needs” – which is a good starting point for staff and family discussions about individualized care.
Special thanks to our funders!! Family-focused training: Advancing Care Partnerships: Family Involvement in Care, Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP), funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Provider/Staff-focused training: Partnerships to Improve Care and Quality of Life for Persons with Dementia, Csomay Center for Gerontological Excellence, funded by the Jo Hoyt Freeman Dementia Education and Outreach Fund Person-Centered Care Initiative Before we end, we’d like to clearly acknowledge and thank our two funding sources. If you are ready, start with the module, Understanding Changing Needs.