Description

Patients with dementia and their families are in vulnerable position within the health care system. This vulnerability is created, in part, by the complexity and trajectory of illness, shortage of qualified providers, and gaps in provider knowledge about available resources. The authors describe a quality improvement project that implemented without any change to staffing or increase in funding. The goal was to increase delivery of dementia resource education and dementia-specific referrals during the discharge planning process. A modest, positive practice change within the care coordination department of the site hospital occurred during and after implementation of this project.