Providing high quality compassionate care for persons with dementia requires attending to their needs for assistance and the need to support their caregivers. For many persons with dementia, the illness progresses to the point where the individual needs a very high level of assistance, often needing helping with multiple basic activities such bathing, dressing, using the bathroom, getting out of a chair, and eating. When this level of assistance is needed, persons need care in a nursing home, or family caregivers need to provide nursing home level of care at home.
Families often ask ‘how long will it be before my loved one needs a high level of care?” This research, by UCSF Pepper Center Scholar James Deardorff, makes it possible to estimate this time by looking at a person’s current characteristics such as illnesses and difficulties with daily functioning. This will help families plan for the future needs of their loved one.
Read the full article here: Development and External Validation of Models to Predict Need for Nursing Home Level of Care in Community-Dwelling Older Adults With Dementia | Geriatrics | JAMA Internal Medicine | JAMA Network