Health Navigators Improve Dementia Care: Podcast with Kate Possin and Sarah Dulaney

Do you remember the scene from the movie The Graduate where Ben's dad says, "One word: Plastics"? Well, I write this blog post from the National Palliative Care Research Center's annual Foley retreat, a who's who of palliative care researchers. The words on everyone's lips: "Lay Health Navigators." This is not to draw equivalency between environmentally destructive materials and people who help those with serious illness and caregivers navigate our complex health care system. Rather, it's to point out that revolutions occur in palliative care research just as they do in business. In this week's podcast, we talk with Kate Possin, PhD and Sarah Dulaney, RN CNS of UCSF about the Care Ecosystem project. In this remarkable study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, lay health workers helped caregivers of persons with dementia navigate the health care system by providing support, education, and care coordination with dementia specialists. The intervention was mainly by telephone, with about 1 phone call per month. Results were remarkable, including improved quality of life for persons with dementia, reduced emergency department visits, and reduced caregiver depression and burden. As Nick Dionne-Odom pointed out yesterday, "Caregiving in dementia is a monumental task. There is tremendous room for improvement." Listen or read on for more! Also - be sure to check out the outstanding Care Ecosystem website: https://memory.ucsf.edu/research-trials/professional/care-ecosystem. The training materials are all FREE to use! by: @AlexSmithMD