Intervention to improve acute care nurses confidence and knowledge in hospital dementia care

Problem: Acute care nurses are the front line of hospital care for persons with dementia (PwD), yet many have inadequate dementia education and lack the confidence to appropriately manage PwD in the hospital setting. Implementation: Two acute care units with high rates of PwD in a large tertiary-care hospital were provided an education intervention involving interactive case-based discussion of the challenges of inpatient dementia care. Results: Out of 190 nurses, 171 completed a one-hour virtual educational session, 142 completed pre/postsession confidence surveys, and 123 completed pre/post-session knowledge tests. There was a statistically significant improvement in knowledge scores from 75.8% pre-session to 88.4% post-session (p < 0.001), and pre/post-session dementia care confidence increased from 3.49 to 4.44 ( + 27.22%; p < 0.001) Conclusion: An interactive virtual education intervention improves acute care nurses' confidence and knowledge in managing PwD in the acute care setting and may improve hospital outcomes for this population. (c) 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study utilized an educational intervention involving interactive case-based discussions to improve the knowledge and confidence of acute care nurses in managing persons with dementia in a hospital setting. The results showed a statistically significant improvement in knowledge scores and dementia care confidence, suggesting potential improvement in hospital outcomes for this population.