Across the developed world, the number of people with dementia is increasing and so therefore is the frequency of people with dementia presenting to general practice. In Australia, there is a recent evidence based clinical practice guideline to inform the diagnosis and management of people with dementia and the support of their carers. Many of the recommendations from this guideline are relevant to general practitioners (GPs). Strategies to implement guidelines into practice are needed in all areas of health care, but changing clinical practice is complex and a body of research developing methods of identifying barriers to specific practice changes is emerging. This project aims to support GPs in improving the general practice based care of people with dementia. In addition it will contribute to the body of knowledge about how to bring about practice change and implement a clinical practice guideline. We will design an intervention for implementing this new guideline into practice, working with GPs to change their practice where needed. Using a randomised design we will test the effect of this intervention on the care of people with dementia, and on the quality of life of people with dementia and their carers.
This project is funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council in Australia.
Contacts
- HSRU email; hsru@abdn.ac.uk