Interprofessional Dementia Care

Summary

Currently, around 1.7 million people with dementia live in Germany. The number of new cases per year is estimated to be around 244,000. At this time, no curative treatment for dementia exists. The progression of the disease results in high needs for care. Only a minority among People with Dementia (PwD) receive needs-based treatment and directive-compliant care. Previous studies found that more than 95% of PwD have an open need for care. The increase in chronically and multimorbid impaired patients leads to an increased number of patients in primary care. Particularly in rural regions, innovative care concepts based on a redistribution of tasks between specialized nurses and doctors could help to guarantee high-value care at all times. Nursing care can be expanded with regards to tasks and competencies, which is thought to increase the attractiveness of the nursing profession. Unfortunately, there are currently no scientific studies on the effectiveness and impact of such care concepts in Germany.

The Aim of this study is to implement a structured care concept for the reallocation of tasks between general practitioners (GPs) and nurses and to evaluate its effectiveness on the living and care situation of people with dementia living at home. "InDePendent" is a multicenter, cluster-randomized, controlled intervention study with a waiting-control group. Randomization is carried out at the level of the participating GPs in a ratio of 1:2 (intervention group : waiting-control group).

Conditions

• Dementia
• Nurse's Role
• Nurse Physician Relations

Interventions

OTHER

Dementia Care Management (DCM)

A computerized "Information and Care Management System" (IMS) will identify unmet nursing, medical, psychosocial and social needs of the PwD and its informal caregiver. Based on this data, the IMS generates suggestions for interventions: The DCM in cooperation with the general practitioner (GP) develops an individual treatment and care plan that is tailored to the needs of the PwD and its caregiver. The DCM will initiate the implementation of respective actions and monitor the status of implementation. Therefore, the DCMs are supposed to take on activities that were previously usually performed by doctors (redistribution of tasks between physicians and qualified nurses in primary care).

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University Medicine Greifswald

  collaborator OTHER

• University Medicine Rostock

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• GNEF Gesundheitsnetz Frankfurt am Main eG

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Haffnet Management GmbH

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Demenznetzwerk Uckermark e.V.

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Techniker Krankenkasse

  collaborator OTHER

• AOK Nordost

  collaborator INDUSTRY

• Federal Joint Committee

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE)

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Wolfgang Hoffmann, MD, MPH, Prof. · German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE)

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

70 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-01-13

Primary Completion

2023-08-31

Completion

2023-08-31

Countries

• Germany

Study Locations