Icon for Key Principle 6

PRINCIPLE 6: Staff education on caring for older people with confusion

Staff are supported through training, education and leadership to enable them to deliver skilled, timely and knowledgeable care to the older person with confusion.

Staff education

Delivery of high quality care for people with confusion requires a whole of organisation commitment (1).

Implementation of guidelines needs to be accompanied by education to enable and reinforce changes in clinical practice. When strategies to enable and reinforce changes in clinical practice are used together with education sessions, outcomes for older people are more positive (2).

Education strategies aimed at increasing knowledge and awareness of delirium can improve hospital staff recognition and documentation of delirium.

References

  1. Royal College of Psychiatrists. Report of the National Audit of Dementia Care in General Hospitals. London: 2011.
  2. Wand AP. Evaluating the effectiveness of educational interventions to prevent delirium. Australasian Journal on Ageing. 2011;30(4):175-85