Dementia Care:

1. Dementia Care: A Comprehensive Exploration of Certified Nursing Assistant Training

2. Research indicates that there isn’t proper care given to those dementia patients living in long-term care facilities • Dementia is the most common diagnosis in nursing home populations • Nearly 90 percent of dementia sufferers will have at least one nursing home stay in their lifetime • Experts believe that nearly 4 million people in the United States are currently living with the disease • 360,000 Americans are diagnosed each year • 50,000 people are reported to die with the disease each year Background

3. Certified Nursing Assistant:A certified nursing assistant, or CNA, helps patients or clients with healthcare needs under the supervision of a Registered Nurse (RN) or a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN). • Dementia Special Care Unit: Dementia Special Care Units (SCUs) exist to better meet dementia residents' needs and to protect residents without dementia in nursing homes and residential care facilities. Definitions

4. Why? • Currently there is a lack of training and preparation given to certified nursing assistants in caring for older adults with dementia • In order to draw awareness to the lack of training further investigation of the current training needs to be considered • The CNA’s basic training includes competencies dealing with older adults who have dementia, but the training is not extensive Purpose

5. What special care is given for dementia patients? • Do CNA’s receive adequate training to care for those patients with dementia? • Why is the current dementia training proving to be unsuccessful? • What improvements need to be made to the current training procedures for CNA’s in relation to caring for dementia patients? Research Questions

6. There is a gap in what is expected from the residents and families and what care the residents are actually receiving • The current training offered is inconsistent and ineffective Hypothesis

7. Vary depending on the state • Focusing on Indiana • In 2003 Indiana proclaimed the requirement of dementia-specific training in all facilities that had contact with dementia residents • In addition to the required in-service hours, staff shall have a minimum of six hours of dementia-specific training within six months and three hours annually thereafter • Alzheimer’s Association partnered with the Indiana State Health Department to develop training modules • There is no consistency between methods of delivery between facilities Current Dementia Training

8. The Alzheimer’s Association and the State Health Department had visions but they have seemed to have failed • In result, CNAs aren’t receiving the needed theoretical knowledge because facilities are failing to offer adequate training Training (cont)

10. Qualitative Study • Systematic Approach evaluating the current dementia training approaches • Focus specifically on the facilities with Dementia SCU’s Methods

11. Interview 6 different facilities • Survey format • Executive director, Director of Nursing, and CNAs • Important to get perceptions from all • Each facility will have 20 or more surveys completed • Combine common themes • Compare types of training administered and the effectiveness the CNA’s believe them to be • CNA’s perceptions of their ability to care for dementia patients vs. The training they are being offered Methods (cont)

12. Make state officials aware of the inconsistences • Ultimately require the same training procedures (i.e. materials, educators) across the state Significance to the field

13. Exaggerated training procedures given by the facility director or director of nursing • Biases fromthe researcher Limitations