Witten, July 1, 2015 - The number of people in Germany who require nursing care has been rising steadily for years. Demographic developments indicate that this trend will continue. A parallel increase in the number of dementia patients is also being observed. Therefore expert collaboration is needed to develop a sustainable nationwide nursing standard for dementia patients.
DZNE researcher becomes scientific leader of team developing national expert standard on "Nursing Care for People with Dementia"
Prof. Dr. Martina Roes, site spokesperson for the DZNE in Witten, has now been commissioned by the German Network for Quality Development in Nursing (DNQP) to develop an expert standard for "Nursing Care for People with Dementia". This standard will be developed by scientists at the Witten site in cooperation with the DNQP's scientific team and an expert working group appointed by the DNQP.
In the fields of nursing science and practical nursing, national expert standards express the professional quality that is to be expected. They provide information about the desired service quality and about proven quality assurance and quality development procedures. The implementation of expert standards is therefore extremely important for the reality of nursing care. "As yet, there is no national expert standard for nursing dementia patients," says Professor Roes. "The development of such a standard for people with dementia will provide valuable orientation for many nursing facilities and caregivers. Moreover, in this way we can make a major contribution towards improving the quality of life of dementia patients and their relatives," she explains. Up to twelve experts in the fields of nursing science and practical nursing and a representative of the Alzheimer's Association will help close this quality development gap.
The national expert standards are to be developed on behalf of the DNQP and with its financial support. The DNQP's steering committee comprises representatives of the German Nursing Council (DPR), the German Society of Nursing Science (DGP) and the German Society for the Aged (KDA), among others. So far, eight national expert standards relating to particularly pressing nursing problems have been drawn up and successfully implemented; these have been incorporated into the quality inspection criteria for inpatient and outpatient care: avoiding pressure sores, dealing with incontinence, preventing falls, dealing with chronic and acute pain, diet and discharge management.
The DZNE's Witten site focuses on investigating and developing nursing strategies for dementia patients with the goal of enabling patients and their caregivers to enjoy the best possible quality of life at all stages of the disease. With this special research profile, the site led by Prof. Dr. Roes has the necessary national and international expertise on the topic of nursing dementia patients and draft the expert standard in cooperation with the expert working group. A consensus on this draft will be reached during a conference held on October 6, 2017 in Osnabrück attended by an expert public. National expert standards use scientific methods to establish general conditions for dealing with epidemiological problems in nursing care. After the consensus conference, the standards will be implemented on a model basis in approx. 20-25 nursing facilities and scientifically monitored.