NYU Nursing Awarded $6.1 Million Grant to Improve Quality of Dementia Care in Hospice

The New York University (NYU) Rory Meyers College of Nursing was recently awarded a $6.1 million grant from the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) National Institute on Aging to study a program designed to bring effective care to people with dementia who are receiving hospice care. The two-phase, five-year grant will fund the first large-scale clinical trial of people with dementia in hospice and their caregivers.

According to NYU.edu, sixteen percent of patients in hospice have dementia as their primary diagnosis, making it the second most common hospice diagnosis after cancer. Dementia patients often experience behavioral and psychological symptoms including agitation, depression, and sleep disturbances which affect the quality of life of patients with dementia and their caregivers. End-of-life care providers are often unprepared to manage the challenging symptoms of this complex disease.

The Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing at NYU Nursing created Aliviado Dementia Care, a program to implement effective care in the community for people with dementia and their caregivers. The program is based on research on dementia symptom assessment and management and includes training for hospice clinicians, with a focus on education and support for caregivers, and a comprehensive quality improvement program for hospice agencies.

Ab Brody, PhD, RN, FAAN, FPCN, associate director of the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing, associate professor at NYU Meyers, and founder of Aliviado Health, tells NYU.edu, “Despite high rates of dementia in hospice care, little research has been performed on how hospices can best help people with dementia and their caregivers to ensure as high a quality of life as possible during the vulnerable period at the end of life. Our evidence-based program is designed to help people with dementia who are near the end of their lives, as well as their families, to improve their quality of life and cope with this devastating illness.”

To learn more about NYU Nursing’s recent $6.1 million grant to improve the quality of dementia care in hospice, visit here.