Evidence-based practice (EBP) in dementia care refers to a method of providing health care that is intuitively based on the best available information from research as well as evidence gained from a patient's data. Furthermore, EBP incorporates a clinician's experience as well as the patient's values and preferences (Melnyk, Gallagher-Ford, Long, & Fineout, 2014). As a result, EBP in dementia care is focused on quality of life and plays a crucial role given that there are approximately 47.5 million dementia patients globally and each patient may display various behavioral, cognitive, and emotional difficulties that require daily care (Park, 2015). Limitations that exist in EBP in dementia care generally revolve around the lack of knowledge of successful research and their accessibility thereof. In order to promote EBP, it is imperative for these limitations to be removed through the implementation of translation of research into clinical practice by ensuring that financing of studies is availed as well as the existence of partnerships between existing stakeholders as an avenue of ensuring such research is easily available (Park, 2015).
Response to Rachael White's post on Reminiscence Therapy and Communication
It is true that good communication can be used as an avenue for treating dementia and the different behavioral, emotional and cognitive issues (Park, 2015) that may be exhibited by the patient. This as evidenced by (McFadden & Gillespie, 2014) assists in the use of Reminiscence Therapy (RT) as an intervention tool that will benefit the service provider, patient, and the patient's family since RT and communication do avail a treatment plan that is holistically focused. This is an interesting topic with lots of avenues to explore as a means of not only delivering healthcare at the institutional level, but also as a follow-up with patients in their homes. This will have the impact of accessing the aforementioned problems in different environmental settings, thus allowing for more EBP research to be conducted towards influencing the quality of life for patients.
References
McFadden, G., & Gillespie, M. (2014). Application of reminiscence therapy for dementia in practice. British Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 261-266. doi:10.12968/bjmh.2014.3.6.272
Melnyk, B. M., Gallagher-Ford, L., Long, L. E., & Fineout, E. (2014, January 21). The Establishment of Evidence-Based Practice Competencies for Practicing Registered Nurses and Advanced Practice Nurses in Real-World Clinical Settings: Proficiencies to Improve Healthcare Quality, Reliability, Patient Outcomes, and Costs. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 11(1), 5-15. doi:10.1111/wvn.12021
Park, M. (2015). Implementing Evidence into Practice for Best Dementia Care. Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing, 45(4), 495-500. doi:J Korean Acad Nurs Vol.45 No.4, 495-500.
