Short summary

The Dementia-friendly Hospital is an important initiative that aims at improving and dealing with the diverse challenges that arise when a person with dementia is hospitalized. This study contributes to knowledge about the essential componets in developing a Dementia-friendly Hospital, as it examines the perspectives of both patients with dementia, relatives and hospital staff.

Rationale

The 2017 National Dementia Strategy has the Dementia-friendly Hospital as one of the important initiatives to improve conditions for patients with dementia in Denmark 

Patients with dementia benefit less from hospitalization, as it can herald a downward health spiral. The needs of patients with dementia are often unmet because of the fragmented hospital system and a focus on medical procedures and ward routines is often chosen over care and dignity.

Relatives often perceive health care professionals to lack skills and competencies in dementia care and treatment. Although relatives are typically the experts in the patient's life and have special knowledge about how to reduce the distress experienced by the patient, they often feel excluded from treatment decisions and care management.

Health care professionals working in hospitals are generally uncertain in their approach to patients with dementia and a request from hospital staff is education and training in the care for patients with dementia. 

No previous studies have examined the perspectives of the patients with dementia, their relatives, and the hospital staff, nor examined the long-term effect of an education intervention that includes continuous reflection séances targeted at the entire hospital workforce

The overall aim of this study is to improve the approach, care and treatment of patients with dementia in an entire somatic hospital setting so as to avoid inequality and ensure high quality of care and treatment to patients with dementia.

Description of the cohort

This study has three substudies:

1: Participant observations of patients with dementia admitted to hospital, 10 patients

2. Focusgroup with patients with dementia, relatives, hospital staff and representatives from The Alzheimers Association, 3-6 participants in each focus group.

3. Mixed methods with Questionnaires to all employes at the hospital and qualitative interviews with hospital staff, 1500 hospitalstaff respondents in the survey, 15 hospitalstaff are participants in interviews

Data and biological material

1. data from observations

2. data from focusgrous

3. data from questionnaires and qualitative interviews

Collaborating researchers and departments

Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark and Odense University Hospital (OUH) and Docent University College Lillebaelt

• Assitant professor Dorthe Nielsen, MScN, PhD

Department of Geriatrics, Odense University Hospital, Svendborg

• Consultant and Associate professor Katja Thomsen, PhD

Department of Geriatric Medicine, Odense University Hospital and Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark

• Consultant and Associate professor Jesper Ryg,PhD