BACKGROUND: Evidence-based guidelines assist clinicians in practice, but how the guidelines are implemented is less established.
OBJECTIVE: To describe the nurses\' implementation of activities recommended in evidence-based guidelines for falls prevention and care of older people with cognitive impairment.
METHODS: Structured observation with a categorical checklist was used. Nursing personnel were recruited from one subacute and two acute wards in two hospitals in one tertiary-level health service in south-eastern Queensland, Australia. The data collection instrument identified 31 activities drawn directly from the evidence-based guidelines, which were categorized into six domains of nursing practice: clinical care, comfort, elimination, mobility, nutrition and hydration, and social engagement. Four-hour observation periods, timed to occur across the morning and evening shifts, were conducted over 2 months.
RESULTS: Nineteen registered nurses, six enrolled nurses, and 16 assistants in nursing (N = 41) were observed for 155 hr of observation. There was variability in adherence with specific activities, ranging from 21% to 100% adherence. Three categories with the highest adherence were nutrition and hydration, mobilization safety, and social engagement. The clinical care, comfort, and elimination categories had lower adherence, with lowest adherence in activities of education provision about falls risk, pain assessment, using a clock or calendar to reorient to time and place, and bowel care.
UNASSIGNED: Nursing care is delivered within an interdisciplinary team. Therefore, responsibility for the everyday fundamental care activities known to prevent falls in older people with cognitive impairment requires localized negotiation. A practical guide for preventing in-hospital falls in older people with cognitive impairment addressing the interdisciplinary context of practice is required. Interdisciplinary teams should develop strategies to enhance the implementation of pain assessment and prevention of constipation in the context of regularly implemented hydration, nutrition, and mobilization care strategies.

A working group of the 2016 International Summit on Intellectual Disability and Dementia was charged to examine the terminology used to define and report on dementia in publications related to intellectual disability (ID). A review of related publications showed mixed uses of terms associated with dementia or causative diseases. As with dementia research in the non-ID population, language related to dementia in the ID field often lacks precision and could lead to a misunderstanding of the condition(s) under discussion, an increasingly crucial issue given the increased global attention dementia is receiving in that field. Most articles related to ID and dementia reporting clinical or medical research generally provide a structured definition of dementia or related terms; social care articles tend toward term use without definition. Toward terminology standardization within studies/reports on dementia and ID, the Summit recommended that a consistent approach is taken that ensures (a) growing familiarity with dementia-related diagnostic, condition-specific, and social care terms (as identified in the working group\'s report); (b) creating a guidance document on accurately defining and presenting information about individuals or groups referenced; and

Families of persons with dementia continue to report unmet needs during end of life (EOL). Strategies to improve care and quality of life for persons with dementia include development of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) and an integrative palliative approach.
We aimed to assess palliative care content in dementia CPGs to identify the presence or limitations of recommendations and discussion pertaining to common issues or domains affected by illness as described by the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association \"Square of Care.\"
A systematic review of databases and gray literature was conducted for recent CPGs. Guidelines meeting inclusion criteria were evaluated using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II instrument. Quality CPGs were analyzed through organizational template analysis using illness domains described by the \"Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association Model.\" The study protocol is registered at PROSPERO (CRD 42015025369).
Eleven CPGs were selected and analyzed from 3779 citations. Nine guidelines demonstrated the maximum level of content regarding physical, psychological, and social care. Conversely, spiritual care was either absent (three) or minimal (three) in CPGs. Six CPGs did not address loss or grief, and seven CPGs did not address or had minimal content regarding EOL care.
The lack of content surrounding grief represents a gap for this population at high risk for complicated grief and chronic sorrow. Results of this review require attention by CPG developers and researchers to develop evidence-based recommendations surrounding spiritual care, EOL, and grief.