Clayton Church Homes in partnership with the University of South Australia, Southern Cross Care (SA, NT & Vic) and Geriatric Care Australia has been awarded an ARIIA grant for their project ‘A clinical pathway for best practice in dementia care: A cluster randomised controlled trial’.
Changed behaviours of dementia, including aggression, agitation, depression, and wandering, can be extremely stressful for the individual, carers and staff and are a contributing factor for people admitted to residential aged care facilities. Dementia is present at similar rates per person across all areas of Australia, yet healthcare delivery in rural and remote areas of Australia present unique challenges that metropolitan areas do not face.
A clinical pathway developed in collaboration with the staff and management at an aged care facility that support health and social care staff in the identification, monitoring, and support of changed behaviours, based on current best practice guidelines, and designed for implementation in Australian Rural Aged Care Facilities (RACFs) will be used.
This research will involve regional aged care providers and aims to assess the effectiveness and implementation of a clinical pathway to reduce the use of psychotropic medications and adverse events specific to changed behaviours and increase interprofessional collaboration within aged care facilities.