Clinical Practice Guidelines and Principles of Care for People with Dementia
Guideline Adaptation Committee. (2016).
Sydney (Australia): NHMRC Partnership Centre for Dealing with Cognitive and Related Functional Decline in Older People, 2-27.
This guideline provides recommendations for the care of individuals with dementia including ethical issues, barriers, early identification, diagnosis, assessment, specialist services, and carer support. The recommendations were adapted from the NICE Guideline developed by the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health in the United Kingdom. This guideline is primarily intended for health and aged care staff working with individuals with dementia in the community in residential or hospital settings.
National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia)
Australian and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine; Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists; Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine; Occupational Therapy Australia; Exercise & Sport Science Australia
The data in this guideline are included elsewhere in the Evidence Maps. See the Associated Article(s) section below for more details.
"Clinical cognitive assessment in those with suspected dementia should include examination using an instrument with established reliability and validity" (Practice Point; p. 10). Other factors known to affect performance should also be considered such as:
<ul>
<li>age;</li>
<li>educational level;</li>
<li>non-English speaking background;</li>
<li>prior level of function;</li>
<li>aphasia;</li>
<li>hearing/visual impairments;</li>
<li>psychiatric illness; or</li>
<li>physical/neurological problems.</li>
</ul>
Individuals with a possible diagnosis of dementia should be offered a referral for a comprehensive memory assessment (Evidence-Based Recommendation, Low Evidence).
"The Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale (RUDAS) should be considered for assessing cognition in [culturally and linguistically diverse] populations" (Evidence-Based Recommendation, Very Low Evidence; p. 11).
