Justice in Aging: Analyzing Training of Workers Who Assist People with Dementia

Justice in Aging offers  a very interesting examination of training standards for the broad array of persons who assist or care for persons with dementia, including volunteers and professionals working in health care facilities or emergency services. The series of 5 papers is titled “Training to Serve People with Dementia: Is Our Health Care System Ready?” The Alzheimer’s Association provided support for the study.

The papers include:  

• Paper 1: Issue Overview
• Paper 2: A Review of Dementia Training Standards across Health Care Settings
• Paper 3: A Review of Dementia Training Standards across Professional Licensure
• Paper 4: Dementia Training Standards for First Responders, Protective Services,  and Ombuds
• Paper 5: Promising Practices-Washington State-A Trailblazer in Dementia Training

To further whet your appetite for digging into the well written and organized papers, key findings indicate that “most dementia training requirements focus on facilities serving people with dementia,” rather than recognizing care and services are frequently provided in the home.  Further there is “vast” variation from state to state regarding the extent of training required or available, and in any licensing standards.  The reports specifically address the need for training for first responders who work outside the traditional definition of “health care,” including law enforcement, investigative and emergency personnel. 

If you need an example of why dementia-specific training is needed for law enforcement, including supervisors and staff at jails, see the facts contained in Goodman v. Kimbrough, reported earlier on this Blog.