Dementia-related psychosis: GSA experts identify ways to improve care
2021-02-04
(Press-News.org) A new white paper from The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) highlights the variety of challenges that persons with dementia-related psychosis and their caregivers have encountered during moves through different health care settings -- and proposes strategies to address these challenges.
It is estimated that over 2 million Americans with dementia experience delusions (false beliefs) and hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that others do not see or hear). This group of symptoms, known as dementia-related psychosis, frequently goes undetected in people who may be struggling with other complex behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia.
The white paper, "Dementia-Related Psychosis: Strategies to Address Barriers to Care Across Settings," was developed by a clinical workgroup of experts whose membership reflects multiple areas of expertise, including primary care, neurology, psychiatry, and nursing. It follows a 2019 GSA publication, "Dementia-Related Psychosis: Gaps and Opportunities for Improving Quality of Care."
"When left untreated, the hallucinations and delusions that frequently occur in patients with dementia can cause significant patient and caregiver distress and often lead to institutionalization," said Gary W. Small, MD, FGSA, who chaired the workgroup. "There is a pressing need for greater awareness of the condition and more effective diagnostic and treatment strategies."
Small is the chair of psychiatry at Hackensack University Medical Center and the physician in chief of behavioral health at Hackensack Meridian Health.
According to the white paper, psychosis in dementia is associated with an increased risk of recurrent hospitalization and the need for more restrictive levels of care. Better care of individuals with dementia-related psychosis requires new initiatives and advocacy at several levels.
"Primary care needs full support to be able to better identify and care for these patients, both in terms of education about dementia-related psychosis and its management, and also by providing enhanced access to expert and specialty care, particularly for providers in rural communities," said Alexis Eastman, MD, who also served on the workgroup. "We need to not only formalize and expand the education of trainees and providers on this disease, but enhance care coordination opportunities through collaborative models and telehealth platforms -- to ensure that providers not only have understanding of dementia-related psychosis, but the resources to adequately care for these patients."
Eastman is the medical director in the Division of Geriatrics at UW Hospitals and Clinics and an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
The white paper indicates that because patients with dementia-related psychosis who transition across settings of care may be at risk for worsening symptoms, such transitions should occur only when mandatory and be carefully managed by health care professionals who have experience specific to the care of persons with dementia. In long-term care settings, team-based approaches to care and additional education for staff, as well as surveyors, could help enhance resident quality of life and support guideline-based care.
INFORMATION:
"Dementia-Related Psychosis: Strategies to Address Barriers to Care Across Settings" was developed through an unrestricted grant from Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc.
The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) is the nation's oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to research, education, and practice in the field of aging. The principal mission of the Society -- and its 5,500+ members -- is to advance the study of aging and disseminate information among scientists, decision makers, and the general public. GSA's structure also includes a policy institute, the National Academy on an Aging Society.
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2021-02-04
NEWPORT, Ore. - Researchers can now determine the age and sex of living beluga whales in Alaska's Cook Inlet thanks to a new DNA-based technique that uses information from small samples of skin tissue.
Accurate age estimates are vital to conservation efforts for Cook Inlet belugas, which were listed as endangered following a significant population decline in the 1990s. Previously, researchers could only determine the age of beluga whales by studying the teeth of dead animals.
The new aging method uses DNA methylation data and machine learning to develop a model that captures ...
2021-02-04
If you have a second, try typing "time management" into your favourite search engine.
You will get literally millions of results: books, tips, lessons, do's and don'ts.
It's a big industry. But as END ...
2021-02-04
A new analysis of a horse previously believed to be from the Ice Age shows that the animal actually died just a few hundred years ago--and was raised, ridden and cared for by Native peoples. The study sheds light on the early relationships between horses and their guardians in the Americas.
The findings, published today in the journal American Antiquity, are the latest in the saga of the "Lehi horse."
In 2018, a Utah couple was doing landscaping in their backyard near the city of Provo when they unearthed something surprising: an almost complete skeleton of a horse about the size of a Shetland pony. Scientists and the media took note. Preliminary data suggested ...
2021-02-04
For a girl in Ethiopia, her mother's wealth can protect her from becoming a child bride - but if a father prefers child marriage, his own wealth may increase the likelihood that she will be married before 18, according to a Rutgers University-New Brunswick study.
Published in the journal World Development, the study found that girls whose mothers have more asset holdings - a cellphone, bicycle, sewing machine, jewelry or other valuables - have a reduced rate of entering into a child marriage, while the rate is higher for girls whose fathers have more asset holdings.
"Child marriage is concerning from a human rights, health and economic perspective," said the study's author Felix Muchomba, assistant professor at the Rutgers School of Social Work. "Girls married before ...
2021-02-04
Getting children to eat their vegetables can seem like an insurmountable task, but nutrition researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have found one way: school gardens and lessons on using what's grown in them.
Researchers worked with 16 elementary schools across Central Texas to install vegetable gardens and teach classes to students and parents about nutrition and cooking. In a study recently published in the END ...
2021-02-04
Humans, wildlife, and the environment are all interconnected and play a role in one another's health and well-being. Sentinel species, such as birds, are good indicators of environmental health, and they can send subtle warning signs that humans may be in danger next.
In an experimental exposure study, Kendra Sewall, an associate professor of biological sciences in the College of Science, and a diverse team of scientists and students have found that lead levels like those reported in Flint, Michigan, can interfere with the neural mechanisms of vocal development of songbirds and affect mate attraction.
By examining the effects of lead exposure ...
2021-02-04
Floating sea macro-litter is a threat to the conservation of marine ecosystems worldwide. The largest density of floating litter is in the great ocean gyres -systems of circular currents that spin and catch litter- but the polluting waste is abundant in coastal waters and semi closed seas such as the Mediterranean.
MARLIT, an open access web app based on an algorithm designed with deep learning techniques, will enable the detection and quantification of floating plastics in the sea with a reliability over 80%, according to a study published in the journal Environmental Pollution and carried out by experts ...
2021-02-04
A new study led by the University of Kent's Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) has found that elephants living around the world-famous Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya, are crop-raiding closer to the protected area, more frequently and throughout the year but are causing less damage when doing so.
Findings show that the direct economic impact of this crop-raiding in the Trans Mara region has dropped, yet farmers have to spend more time protecting their fields, further reducing support for conservation in communities who currently receive few benefits from living with wildlife.
The research published by Biological Conservation ...
2021-02-04
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- All things being equal, large, long-lived animals should have the highest risk of cancer.
The calculation is simple: Tumors grow when genetic mutations cause individual cells to reproduce too quickly. A long life creates more opportunities for those cancerous mutations to arise. So, too, does a massive body: Big creatures -- which have many more cells -- should develop tumors more frequently.
Why, then, does cancer rarely afflict elephants, with their long lifespans and gargantuan bodies? They are some of the world's largest land animals.
A new study delves into this ...
2021-02-04
Laparoscopic surgery, a less invasive alternative to conventional open surgery, involves inserting thin tubes with a tiny camera and surgical instruments into the abdomen. To visualize specific surgical targets, ultrasound imaging is used in conjunction with the surgery. However, ultrasound images are viewed on a separate screen, requiring the surgeon to mentally combine the camera and ultrasound data.
Modern augmented reality (AR)-based methods have overcome this issue by embedding ultrasound images into the video taken by the laparoscopic camera. These AR methods precisely map the ultrasound data coordinates to the coordinates of the ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Dementia-related psychosis: GSA experts identify ways to improve care
