Involving people with dementia as informants in nursing education

In-person quick oral presentation
Background: Improving care for people with dementia in community and hospital setting demands nursing staff with a hight degree of knowledge about dementia and person-centred care. The Danish 2025 dementia action plan had a focus on further education of staff in the workplace. No focus was given to students in health-related education, thereby missing an opportunity to create a generation of health professionals, that from the basic training had a significant knowledge about dementia.

Aim: Explore models for incorporating knowledge about dementia and person-centred care in nursing education.

Method: Third semester nursing students were subjected to a curriculum that had a significant larger number of lessons about dementia and person-centred care. The bases for the education were handbooks about dementia from the Danish Health Authority, e-learning programs from the Danish Dementia Research Centre, national reports and scientific articles. Additionally, two people with dementia visited the students for a Q&A about living with dementia. The students prepared questions and were lectured in involving people with dementia in this type of setting, in an ethical responsible way.

To gather information about this extended program, students was invited to participate in focus group interviews about their experiences with the program and their views on caring for patients with dementia as nurses. The same group of students will later be invited to participate in interviews after they have finished their education, and after two years of working as a nurse.

Conclusion: The education program worked as intended, with only minor revisions needed before the second round of nursing students will participate in the intervention. Interview data will be reported on after the second round has finished in late 2022.