Referral criteria for specialist palliative care for patients with dementia

Referral criteria for specialist palliative care for patients with dementia
JAMA Network Open; by Yuchieh Kathryn Chang, Jennifer Philip, Jenny T. van der Steen, Lieve Van den Block, Allyn Yin Mei Hum, Pedro E. Pérez-Cruz, Carlos Paiva, Masanori Mori, Ping-Jen Chen, Meera R. Agar, Laura Hanson, Catherine J. Evans, David Hui; 5/25
Dementia is an ever-growing public health issue with currently more than 55 million people worldwide living with this disease. Due to an aging global population, this number is projected to triple by 2050. As the number of people with dementia continues to grow worldwide, there is a need and an opportunity to collaborate and provide seamless integration of specialist palliative care with the primary palliative care already delivered to enhance the care of patients with dementia. To help advance this goal, the 15 major criteria identified here represent a first step toward clarification of primary and specialist palliative care roles and consideration for systematic screening of symptom and supportive care needs.