UNC School of Medicine initiative providing special care to patients with dementia

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – (May 1, 2019) – The Dementia Friendly Hospital Initiative will reach a total of 3,900 employees in four hospitals across North Carolina to raise awareness of how patients with dementia experience care, and to meet their unique needs with strategic and compassionate treatment. Led by the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Center for Aging and Health in the UNC School of Medicine, the program will deliver dementia-friendly training to targeted UNC Health Care system hospitals, and could reach nearly 5,500 patients aged 65 years and older with dementia every year.

The program is being piloted at UNC Hospitals Hillsborough Campus and aims to improve care for a rapidly expanding population of patients affected by Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). ADRD is the sixth leading cause of death nationally and the only leading cause of death for which there is no cure. One in three seniors who die each year have ADRD. Patients with dementia have prolonged hospital stays, increased 30-day readmissions, poorer health outcomes and higher mortality rates.

With an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, the chance of being hospitalized also increases significantly. Yet routine hospital procedures can create confusion, agitation and fear in patients with dementia, because they may not have the ability to understand what is happening to them. Reactions span a range of behaviors such as yelling, striking out, pulling at IVs, or trying to leave their beds and rooms.

“Imagine if you don’t know what’s going on. You’re in this strange place and you don’t remember how you got there. You’re connected to wires, the lights are bright, or the room is dark, and people are doing things to you that you don’t understand,” said Krista Wells, a clinical nurse education specialist at UNC’s Hillsborough Campus. “With a dementia patient, their common reaction is often to lash out and tell people to ‘leave me alone, stop bothering me.'”

“Hospitalization can be traumatic for patients with dementia and challenging for caregivers and families,” said Jan Busby-Whitehead, MD, principal investigator for the Dementia Friendly Hospital Initiative. “There is much we can do to improve experiences and outcomes for these patients. The Dementia Friendly Hospital Initiative moves beyond a provider-centric focus to involve the whole hospital in connecting effectively with patients with dementia and making them feel safe and well cared for,” said Busby-Whitehead, who is also chief of the UNC School of Medicine’s Division of Geriatric Medicine and director for the School’s Center for Aging and Health.

The Dementia Friendly Hospital Initiative targets the entire span of patient and family interactions that occur during hospitalization. All staff who interact in any way with patients – from physicians and advanced practice providers to food service workers, security officers, and administrators – will be trained in strategies to improve quality and safety. The program also seeks to lower rates for in-hospital injuries, length of stay and 30-day readmissions.

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The Duke Endowment-funded project brings comprehensive, hospital-wide training to four partnering hospitals. Training is underway at UNC Hospitals Hillsborough Campus, with all clinical and nonclinical staff being fully trained by fall 2019. Three additional UNC Health Care hospitals in North Carolina will begin training in 2019 and 2020: NC Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill, Pardee UNC Health Care in Hendersonville, and Wayne UNC Health Care in Goldsboro.

About UNC Health Care

UNC Health Care is an integrated health care system owned by the state of North Carolina and based in Chapel Hill. It exists to further the teaching mission of the University of North Carolina and to provide state-of-the-art patient care.

UNC Health Care is comprised of UNC Hospitals at Chapel Hill, ranked consistently among the best medical centers in the country; the UNC School of Medicine, a nationally eminent research institution; Pardee UNC Health Care in Hendersonville; Chatham Hospital in Siler City; Johnston Health in Clayton and Smithfield; UNC Lenoir Health Care in Kinston; Wayne UNC Health Care in Goldsboro; Caldwell UNC Health Care in Lenoir; Nash UNC Health Care in Rocky Mount; UNC Rockingham Health Care in Eden, Onslow Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville, UNC REX Healthcare and its provider network in Wake County; and the UNC Physicians Network.

For more information, please visit http://www.unchealthcare.org.