Improving Caregiver Skills: The Importance of Dementia Training

According to NHS research, more than 944,000 people are living with dementia in the UK alone. The majority affected by this cognitive functioning decline are elderly citizens, and the number is increasing at a breakneck speed. Therefore, there is a growing need for more professionals to receive dementia care training.

Dementia training is crucial for building a workforce equipped to handle the specific challenges of caring for individuals with dementia. Resultantly, the job scope for dementia carers doesn’t seem to be decreasing anytime soon.

So, in this blog post, we’ll describe why training in dementia care is essential and how it can create an excellent opportunity for professionals to grow in the caregiving domain. Let’s dive in.

What is Dementia?

Dementia is a cognitive impairment that affects people’s memories and the capacity to carry out everyday tasks. 

Dementia primarily disrupts the neural functioning of our brains and causes problems with remembering, thinking, and behaving. It’s a disability that gradually progresses and gets worse over time.

The most common type of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. Although it's classified as a disease, but it’s primarily a condition that makes lives difficult, especially for older adults, by progressively affecting their ability to communicate, recognise familiar faces, and manage routine activities independently.

For the impairments, dementia patients need assistance, and it’s best if they are taken care of by professionals who are adequately trained and certified to support individuals with dementia.

What is dementia training?

When it comes to dementia training or dementia awareness training, it goes beyond the basic caregiving skills. Dementia courses are specialised training focusing on specific skills associated with dementia care.

There are different types of dementia and its stages. The individual who takes dementia training learns all the types of dementia, their stages, and how the cognitive disorder affects a person.

The training associated with dementia is education about tackling dementia people, helping them with regular activity, and teaching them to live with dementia. The main aim of dementia carers is to create a safe environment without compromising the care receiver’s self-dignity and independence.

Ultimately, dementia care training equips carers with the necessary tools to offer compassionate, competent care that improves the quality of life of the care recipient.

Why is dementia training important?

Understanding dementia is one of the first steps to providing care to individuals suffering from it. Dementia care training courses familiarise learners with the fundamentals of dementia and build a solid knowledge base to become well aware of a patient's behaviour, struggles, and regular life.

Typically, a dementia training learner will be familiar with various forms of dementia and gain critical knowledge to provide better care.

Among various importance, some of them are:

Improved care

Since dementia training covers several types and stages of dementia, it enhances understanding of patients' needs. Therefore, the quality of care and patient outcomes get better.

Improved communication

Communication is key to dealing with dementia patients. Through dementia training, carers gain a complete understanding of how to establish successful communication with dementia individuals.

Creating safe environments

Dementia awareness ensures a more secure and safer environment for the care recipients. The carers learn how to support dementia patients, identify and manage risks, handle challenging behaviour, and reduce the likelihood of harm.

Legal and ethical awareness

Through dementia training, carers learn the ethical and legal considerations. It informs the learners about the patients' rights and consent, confidentiality, and data protection.

Enhancing Quality of Life

The main aim of dementia training is to create skilled professionals who can improve the overall quality of life of individuals with dementia. 

Reducing carer Burnout

Handling dementia patients is not easy. If the care receivers are not well aware and skilled, they might experience stressful handling. Therefore, a systematic approach makes it much more manageable. Dementia training programs offer structured learning, making it easier for care providers to avoid burnout.

Boosts confidence

Dementia training is a structured method of teaching dementia care. Through these training programs, carers learn about the challenges faced by patients and how to handle them. This helps the carers be prepared for any situation when dealing with the care receivers. This enhances their confidence, making it smoother to provide care.

The importance and benefits of dementia training are undeniable. Enrolling in a well-organised dementia carer training program leads to better learning and facilitates career growth.

Dementia training standards framework

The dementia training standards framework guides the quality of a training programme and aims to ensure the learners' standards, skills, and knowledge.

The framework was developed by experts and several health and social care agencies, with funding from the Department of Health in England.

According to the framework, dementia carers should have or develop a certain standard of knowledge and skills before dealing with a dementia patient.

According to the framework, each training should intend to equip the carers with certain knowledge and skills.

1. Dementia awareness. Understand the basics of dementia and its different stages. 
2. The knowledge of identification, assessment, and diagnosis of dementia.
3. Strategies to reduce the risk of dementia through lifestyle changes, health interventions, and public awareness.
4. Person-centred care.
5. Communication, interaction, and behaviour in dementia care.
6. Physical and mental well-being of the person with dementia.
7. Pharmaceutical interventions include medical management and drug use to treat dementia symptoms.
8. Maintain independence and enjoy a good quality of life.
9. Family and carer collaboration in dementia care.
10. Ensuring equal care regardless of background, ethnicity, and financial conditions.
11. Understanding legal and moral considerations and ensuring safeguarding measures to protect the person with dementia.
12. Ensuring compassionate and proper care during the final stages of dementia.
13. Using updated research and evidence to improve care practice.
14. Leadership skills to drive improvements and innovations in dementia care.

Each carer should intend to develop certain skills guided by the framework. However, standard dementia care training will cover all the guidelines in their modules.

Conclusion

People living with dementia must be taken care of sincerely. The person providing care should also know the care receiver’s struggles and plan care accordingly. For that, the carer should be well informed and trained about the traits of dementia.

For that reason, the importance of dementia training is endless. Training ensures quality care, improved communication, reduced burnout, career progression of the carer, and many more. For your convenience, this blog post has covered the topic in detail.