Communities of Practice in dementia

The Communities of Practice in Dementia project.

From June 2010, until mid 2011, health professionals with a passion for enhancing best practice and care continuity for very frail or unwell people with dementia met as a Community of Practice.

Community of Practice members in WA were drawn from Southern Cross Community Care; Wards Four and Ten at Bentley Hospital; Uniting Church Homes’ Rowethorpe Medical Centre and Annesley residential aged care facility; and Alzheimer’s Australia WA’s In-Home Respite and Support Services.  The Canning Division of General Practice was also involved in the project.

During the project, the Community of Practice decided upon priority areas of practice enhancement and championed these in a plan of action that was supported by the resources that they designed or chose and the project team. Outcomes of changes in practice were examined.

This presentation explains what a community of practice is and how it works as a means of making lasting change in the workplace. The specific project to improve the care of people with dementia for whom death in the next six months would not be a surprise is described, its outcomes revealed, followed by a discussion of how this project will be continued.

A WADTSC seminar presentation by Associate Professor Chris Toye, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Curtin University on 21 September 2011.

View the video presentation

Download the presentation (PowerPoint as pdf file – 1,800 Kb)