Harvard Medical School researchers are urging nursing homes to spread the use of dedicated dementia care units, and they say they have the numbers to back up their push.
Examining resident assessments and claims data from nursing homes, investigators with the school found that admission into a dementia special care unit (SCU) brought measurable drops on several quality indicators. Those included reductions in inappropriate use of antipsychotics, physical restraints, pressure ulcers, feeding tubes and hospitalizations.
“Facilities with an SCU provide better quality of care as measured by several validated quality indicators,” the study concluded. “Given the aging population, policies to promote the expansion and use of dementia SCUs may be warranted.”
Study authors note that about 50% of the long-stay resident population in nursing homes are diagnosed with dementia. Upward of 40% of all adults with dementia live in a U.S. nursing home, totaling some 750,000 individuals.
Only about 4.5% of all nursing home beds are part of such specialized care units, which are designed specifically to provide a more supportive social and physical environment for residents, the study notes. Features can include everything from color-coded walls to assist with navigation to therapeutic programs that help with memory impairment.
