THE PROBLEM
Caring for a person with dementia can be a challenging endeavour. The NHS and Challenge Demcare sought a way to teach NHS professionals how to handle situations they may face when interacting with a dementia patient. Without appropriate training, carers may accidentally act in an inappropriate way, which in some cases could exacerbate the situation and cause further issues for themselves or the patient. Thus, Lampada has created an online training course which outlines some of the possibilities carers may face and the correct way in which situations should be handled.
THE SOLUTION
This online evidence – based course was developed in as part of a large scale NIHR applied research programme (2008-2017) on the Management of Challenging Behaviour in dementia both at home and in care homes. The platform, software and the health components (i.e. multi-morbidities/medications) were fully updated (2018/19) with technological support from Lampada.
This course is aimed at empowering staff /practitioners working with people with dementia and their families to respond effectively to unmet health and psychosocial need(s) in a person with dementia. These are often the cause(s) of so-called ‘challenging behaviours’. The online course is not intended for use by people with dementia or families. The term ‘challenging behaviour’ does not imply ‘mis-behaviour’ that can undermine dignity in people living with dementia.
Module 3 assists practitioners of all disciplines in structuring assessments/observations to detect the causes of ‘behaviours that challenge’ caregivers and to offer personalised health and psychosocial support for unmet need(s) in a given challenging situation. It also reminds staff when to seek appropriate professional help in reviewing past responses that may not now be relevant or even in some cases be harmful – e.g. antipsychotic drugs/other psychotropic drugs/drug interactions in new cases of multi-morbidity /frailty.