Admiral Nursing: supporting generalist nurses to work with families affected by dementia
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence and practice    

Admiral Nursing: supporting generalist nurses to work with families affected by dementia

Karen Harrison Dening Head of research and publications, Dementia UK, London, England
Zena Aldridge Admiral Nurse research fellow and doctoral student, De Montfort University, Leicester, England
Hilda Hayo Chief Admiral Nurse and chief executive officer, Dementia UK, London, England

Why you should read this article:
  • To recognise the knowledge and skills that can enable staff to meet the complex needs of people with dementia and their families

  • To understand the training needs of the health and social care workforce in relation to dementia

  • To learn how Admiral Nurses can identify and support the education needs of generalist nurses

The number of people with dementia in the UK is expected to significantly increase over the next two decades, which has implications for service demand and delivery, as well as for the development of the workforce across all health and social care services. The health and social care workforce requires a range of knowledge and skills to enable staff to meet the complex needs of people with dementia and their families. In the UK, a framework outlining dementia training standards was developed to address this; however, the quality and efficacy of this training is unclear and there are growing doubts that such a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach can meet the diverse needs of the workforce. This article discusses the education needs of the health and social care workforce in relation to dementia and outlines how the specialist role of the Admiral Nurse can support these needs. The article also details two case studies that demonstrate the role of the Admiral Nurse in identifying and supporting the education needs of generalist nurses working in acute hospital and primary care settings.

Nursing Standard. doi: 10.7748/ns.2022.e12006

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

@KarenDening1

Correspondence

Karen.harrison-dening@dementiauk.org

Conflict of interest

None declared

Harrison Dening K, Aldridge Z, Hayo H (2022) Admiral Nursing: supporting generalist nurses to work with families affected by dementia. Nursing Standard. doi: 10.7748/ns.2022.e12006

Published online: 15 December 2022

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