Translating evidence into practice: the case of dementia guidelines in specialized geriatric services.
This paper describes a process of identifying best practice guidelines for non-pharmacological management for individuals with dementia and disseminating them to a group of frontline practitioners in specialized geriatric services. Our dissemination plan involved early participation of practitioners, development of a chart summarizing five guidelines showing commonalities, contrasts, and gaps in the guidelines, and their interpretation, colour-coded for the strength of the evidence on which they were based. Two sequential workshops were held in which recommendations for action were developed. Outcomes of the process included a resource manual, a network of practitioners, and action recommendations based upon survey data. An early follow-up evaluation showed increased adoption of guidelines.
Lewis
David L
DL
Regional Geriatrics Program Central, 88 Maplewood Avenue, Hamilton, ON, L8M 1W9, Canada. lewisda@mcmaster.ca
Jewell
David
D
Turpie
Irene
I
Patterson
Christopher
C
McCoy
Barbara
B
Baxter
Julia
J
D000368:Aged; D002170:Canada; D003704:Dementia / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D016730:Program Development