Work programme 5

DEMTRAIN

Work programme 5, also known as DEMTRAIN, has developed the evidence base for dementia training in NHS hospitals.

Viewing the acute hospital as a neighbourhood space increasingly occupied by people living with dementia, the research will examine the impact of dementia training on staff skills, knowledge, confidence, attitudes, organisational culture, staff strain and satisfaction in caring for patients living with dementia in these settings.

Quality and effectiveness of training programmes in acute hospital settings were examined and their impact on length of hospital stay, death, and readmissions for people living with dementia.

Within a national context of standardisation of training programmes, recommendations from this work will promote dementia training design that impacts on improved patient outcomes, and which increase the knowledge and confidence of staff working with people living with dementia in NHS and other care settings. 

Achievements

• We worked with people living with dementia and care partners as co-researchers in all the main phases of the DEMTRAIN study. This included co-research involvement in the development of a dementia training logic model, design of large scale, organisational survey and interview tools, hospital case study visits, and data analysis.
• We produced a programme theory for planning, developing and evaluating educational programmes in hospital settings.
• Our logic model illustrates the complex landscape of dementia training in acute hospitals, through charting the mechanisms, interactions, barriers and facilitators in this acute care setting.
• A ‘key messages resource’, created from study recommendations, has been designed to inform NHS hospital dementia leads, trainers, champions and specialist clinicians.
• Through analysis of health service and other national government dementia data, important patient outcomes are highlighted.

What next?

• Publishing and disseminating the study findings in high impact academic journals, practice journals and through conference presentations
• Distributing individual hospital benchmarking reports to inform hospital dementia training programmes
• Working to inform professional body guidance on hospital dementia training
• Contributing to national dementia and training organisation resources on dementia training in NHS hospitals.

There is potential for the logic model and/or key recommendations to be disseminated via different organisations via their own websites. If you are interested in doing this, please contact the Principal Investigator, Siobhan Reilly at s.reilly@lancaster.ac.uk.