Britta Wendelstein

Kommunikationstraining MultiTANDEMplus – Ein Beitrag zur Verbesserung der Kommunikation zwischen Pflegenden und Ärzten

BACKGROUND Failures of communication between professional caregivers and physicians affect the quality of supply of nursing home residents. AIM As part of a model project it was aimed to develop a training for caregivers to improve communication and promote cooperation with physicians. METHODS For the needs assessment as a basis to develop the training 56 professional caregivers and 40 physicians engaged in nursing home care answered questionnaires regarding their cooperation. Based on these results a module for communication between professional caregivers and physicians was developed and adapted the TANDEM communication training for caregivers by Haberstroh and Pantel (2011). 25 professional caregivers in leading positions have been trained as multipliers in order to provide their colleagues the communication training with the additional element (TANDEMplus). TANDEMplus was evaluated in forms of reflection rounds and feedback questionnaires. RESULTS 254 professional caregivers, housekeeping staff and daytime companions participated in a complete TANDEMplus training by the multipliers until July 2014. The implementation of their developed communication strategies into practice was experienced positively by the participants. CONCLUSIONS The module “communication with physicians” is relevant for professional caregivers to raise awareness of their own competence and facilitate a structured information exchange at eye level. The training of multipliers was executed in order to ensure transfer effects and sustainability.

PSYCHOTROPIC MEDICATION IN NURSING HOMES

with an information booklet set. Ten participants were recruited from the Mental Health Clinic during PWD out-patient clinic sessions in Hong Kong. Caregivers’ self-efficacy and subjective burden were measured prior to the program, immediately after the completion of the program, and one month after the program. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS. Results: The adherence rate was over 70% among the 10 participants. Due to the limitation of the small sample size, a non-parametric test was employed to analyze the differences among the participants. The results showed improving trends in both caregiving self-efficacy and psychological burden of the participants in the two post-intervention time-points. Conclusions:After the intervention program employed in the pilot study, both the caregiving self-efficacy and psychological burden of the participants improved, which suggests that it is a feasible and cost-effective program for dementia caregivers. However, for more robust evidence, a RCT with sufficient effect size should be performed.

Mortality, apathy, and atypical drugs

MiDD was 9.90% in NCD, 16.89% in MCI, and 19.51% in ADD. The frequency of NIMH-dAD was 26.23%, 33.56%, and 40.24%, respectively. While the frequency of MaDD did not show any significant difference among cognitive subgroups, those of MiDD and NIMH-dAD, i.e., relatively milder depression syndromes, had significant group difference with gradual increase from NCD to ADD. Conclusions: The current findings obtained from a large number of cognitively diverse elderly individuals who visited a memory clinic indicated that mild depressive conditions are highly prevalent in general and more common in individuals with poorer cognitive condition, while the frequency of severe depressive disorder like MaDD is not related to cognitive status.