Improving the nursing home admission process for people with dementia and their informal caregiver.
The transition from home to the nursing home is a stressful event for both people with dementia and their family. Suboptimal information transfer between professionals during the admission process results in the informal caregiver having to repeat the same story again and again, and professionals being less efficient. Moreover, poor coordination during the admission process is known to negatively affect the quality of life of the people with dementia. In a study by Alzheimer Nederland (2019) 50% of the informal caregivers reported that they experienced a lack of support during and after the admission of their relative with dementia. One reason may be that the dementia case manager is often forced to stop their support, due to limitations in current policies and funding structures.
In this action research study, we want to create a regional method to optimize the nursing home admission process of people with dementia, in co-creation with all those involved, facilitated by a research team of healthcare professionals, informal caregivers and action researchers.
There is a specific emphasis on (1) information transfer, and (2) informal caregiver support.
