Dementia initiative: Practice, research, and policy implications

The 2001 Institute of Medicine report titled, “Crossing the Quality Chasm,” identified the fragmentation and impersonal nature of healthcare in the US. It pinpointed the need for a move from a disease-centered to a person-centered approach. The Dementia Initiative, which began in 2012, represents a national coalition of about 60 researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers and calls for action on how to begin to address this need for a person-centered approach among those persons with dementia. Following a brief overview of the context, values, and structural elements of person-centered care based on expert consensus and the research literature, the presenters will describe in more detail a range of specific person-centered care practices and summarize the scientific and clinical evidence to date of the effectiveness of these practices among persons with dementia. Specific recommendations for research, practice, and policy will also be discussed.