Medicine Optimisation and Deprescribing Intervention Outcomes for Older People with Dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Systematic Review.

Background: Polypharmacy is common amongst older people with dementia or mild cognitive impairment (MCI), increasing the risk of medication-related harm. Medicine optimisation and deprescribing to reduce polypharmacy is considered feasible, safe and can lead to improved health. However, for those living with dementia or MCI, this can be challenging.

A Walk Through Dementia: exploring the effects of a virtual reality app about dementia on students' knowledge and attitudes.

Background: A Walk Through Dementia (AWTD) is a learning resource that shows dementia from the perspective of people with the condition. Its three 360-degree simulation films depict a person with dementia in different everyday situations and can be viewed online or on a smartphone using an app.

Aim: To evaluate how first-year undergraduate healthcare students react to the AWTD app, what they learn from it and the influence it has on their clinical practice during placements.

Digital empowerment in long-term condition management: A systematic review and narrative synthesis of the experiences and perceptions of home-based digital health coaching interventions.

Objectives: Globally, the prevalence of long-term conditions (LTCs) continues to rise. The impact of LTCs presents significant challenges for international health and social care systems and continues to be a leading cause of mortality. Despite this, digital health coaching interventions (DHCIs) appear to be a promising strategy for managing chronic disease.

How to undertake a holistic nutritional assessment with older people.

Nutrition is a fundamental aspect of nursing care, however older people cared for in hospital, in a care home or in their own home do not always receive adequate support with their nutritional needs, which can leave them at risk of malnutrition. Using a holistic, biopsychosocial framework to support a comprehensive nutritional assessment that includes malnutrition screening can support the nurse to identify the older person's nutritional status and nutrition needs. Nurses undertaking this procedure must ensure they have the knowledge and skills to do so and work within the limits of their competence.

The changing role of Advanced Clinical Practitioners working with older people during the COVID- 19 pandemic: A qualitative research study.

Background: COVID-19 was identified as a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in December 2020. Advanced Clinical Practitioners (ACPs) in England working with older people with frailty, experienced their clinical role changing in response to the emergency health needs of this complex population group. In contrast to other countries, in England Advanced Clinical Practitioners are drawn from both nursing and allied health professions.

Barriers and enablers to implementing 'DEALTS2' simulation-based train-the-trainer dementia training programme in hospital settings across England: a qualitative study.

Background: Despite approaches to provide effective dementia training in acute care settings, little is known about the barriers and enablers to implement and embed learning into practice. We were commissioned by Health Education England to develop and evaluate a new dementia training intervention 'Dementia Education And Learning Through Simulation 2' (DEALTS2), an innovative simulation toolkit to support delivery of dementia training in acute care across England. This study aimed to explore barriers and enablers experienced by trainers implementing DEALTS2 and extent to which it impacted on delivery of training and staff clinical practice.

A critical realist evaluation of advance care planning in care homes.

Aims: To evaluate care planning in advance of end-of-life care in care homes.

Design: A qualitative study.

Methods: Qualitative data were collected from January 2018-July 2019 (using focus groups and semi-structured interviews) from three care homes in the South West of England.

Developing a support group for carers of people living with dementia.

Significant numbers of people in the UK care for someone living with dementia. Providing support for carers is socially and economically important, enabling them to continue in their caring role and improving their day-to-day experience of caring. This article comprises a reflection by one dementia nurse specialist who ran a six-week educational support group for carers of people living with dementia.

Impact of 'DEALTS2' education intervention on trainer dementia knowledge and confidence to utilise innovative training approaches: A national pre-test - post-test survey.

Background: Gaps in acute care staff knowledge, skills, and attitudes towards dementia exist. Innovative training approaches that improve the delivery of care for people with dementia are needed. We were commissioned by Health Education England to develop and evaluate a new dementia education intervention 'Dementia Education And Learning Through Simulation 2' (DEALTS2), a simulation toolkit to enhance delivery of dementia training nationally across England.

Compassionate care in the community: reflections of a student nurse.

Reflecting on practice and analysing situations when compassionate care has been delivered can be a valuable way of helping student nurses develop their understanding of humanising care. This exemplar showcases a scenario when a second-year student nurse studying for a BSc (Honours) in adult nursing explored an experience while working in the community. She critically reflected on an incident highlighting a simple yet powerful example of how she helped an older couple manage an aspect of their care.

Systematic critical realist review of interventions designed to improve end-of-life care in care homes.

The demand for high-quality end-of-life care is rising. Frequently evidenced concerns about the provision of end-of-life in care homes relate to inter-disciplinary communication and engagement in advance care planning. A number of interventions employing different mechanisms have been designed to address these issues.

What is an older husband's experience of caring for his wife who has dementia?

A significant number of informal carers look after people who have dementia. Women's caring experiences are well documented. However, a substantially smaller amount of research exists specifically investigating the male carer perspective.

Design and evaluation protocol for 'DEALTS 2': a simulation-based dementia education intervention for acute care settings.

Background: There is a paucity of simulation-based dementia education programmes for acute care settings that support the development of interpersonal skills pertinent to good care. Moreover, few studies measure the effectiveness of such programmes by evaluating the persistence of practice change beyond the immediate timeframe of the workshops. We were commissioned by Health Education England (HEE) to develop and evaluate 'DEALTS 2', a national simulation-based education toolkit informed by the Humanisation Values Framework, developed at Bournemouth University and based on an experiential learning approach to facilitate positive impacts on practice.

Influences on clinical decision-making during a community placement: reflections of a student nurse.

High quality care is dependent on good clinical judgement and often-complex decision making. Nurses need to be able to justify and defend their clinical decisions. In this article, a third-year nursing student reflects on an incident from a community placement involving a collaborative clinical decision.

End-of-life care in UK care homes: a systematic review of the literature.

Background: The number of people requiring end-of-life care provision in care homes has grown significantly. There is a need for a systematic examination of individual studies to provide more comprehensive information about contemporary care provision.

Aim: The aim of this study was to systematically review studies that describe end-of-life care in UK care homes.

Exploring the meaning of home and its implications for the care of older people.

Aims And Objectives: To explore the meaning of home for six baby boomers and consider how this insight can be used when caring for older people in hospital or residential settings.

Background: Feeling at home is important to help retain a sense of autonomy, security and well-being, but home is a complex concept to understand. The baby boomers are a large cohort entering later life and understanding their sense of home is not only an example of anticipatory gerontology but it could also provide the tools to explore home with the current older population, who may be in a variety of care settings.

Widening participation in nurse education: An integrative literature review.

Background: Widening participation into higher education is espoused within educational policy in the UK, and internationally, as a mechanism to promote equality and social mobility. As nurse education is located within higher education it has a responsibility to promote widening participation within pre-registration educational programmes. It could also be argued that the profession has a responsibility to promote equality to ensure its' workforce is as diverse as possible in order to best address the health needs of diverse populations.

Does nurses' vulnerability affect their ability to care?

Recent reports from the Department of Health (2008), the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (2011) and the Commission on Dignity in Care for Older People (2012) have been highly critical regarding the care that some patients have experienced. They have highlighted that fundamental aspects of care are missing resulting in a lack of high quality individualised nursing care, which is in contrast with holistic nursing philosophy. We have to ask ourselves what is happening within nursing, as many enter the profession owing to a desire to 'make a difference'.

How education can improve care for residents with dementia.

Meeting the needs of people with dementia is topical in health and social care. However, the care of older people, including those with dementia, has received much negative media coverage over the past few years. Colten Care, a care home group in the south of England, asked staff from the School of Health and Social Care at Bournemouth University to develop and deliver an educational programme to 20 staff working at three of the group's care homes.

Ask the experts.

Although UK healthcare spending is now close to the European average( Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2008 ), older people still receive inadequate services ( Healthcare Commission 2008 ). The recession is a time of great peril and great opportunity: there is the risk of savage funding cuts and falling quality; but there is also the opportunity to integrate our fragmented healthcare system and harness the skills of nurses to drive up quality.