title: Quality improvement in neurology: dementia management quality measures (executive summary).
abstract: This article represents the efforts of an interdisciplinary work group, the Dementia Measures Work Group (DWG), composed of representatives of diverse national organizations who convened specifically to define optimal standards of dementia care for individual practitioners as well as multidisciplinary teams. The DWG measurement set includes all stages of dementia in a single measure set, calls for the use of functional staging in planning care, prompts the use of validated instruments in patient and caregiver assessment and intervention, highlights the relevance of using palliative care concepts to guide care prior to the advanced stages of illness, and provides evidence-based support for its recommendations and guidance on the selection of instruments for tracking patient-centered outcomes. In addition, it specifies annual reassessment and updating of interventions and care plans for dementia-related problems that affect families and other caregivers as well as patients.
authors.affiliation: Germaine Odenheimer, MD, is with the Department of Geriatric Medicine, University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, Oklahoma City Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Oklahoma City.
authors.forename: Germaine
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Odenheimer
authors.forename: Soo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Borson
authors.forename: Amy E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Sanders
authors.forename: Rebecca J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Swain-Eng
authors.forename: Helen H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Kyomen
authors.forename: Samantha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tierney
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gitlin
authors.forename: Mary Ann
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Forciea
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Absher
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shega
authors.forename: Jerry
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000592:standards; D017028:Caregivers; D003376:Counseling / Q000592:standards; D003704:Dementia / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D009788:Occupational Therapy / Q000592:standards*; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D063868:Patient Outcome Assessment; D058996:Quality Improvement