Baltimore, MD (March 2010)—The culture of care promoted in the majority of residential care facilities throughout the United States is in dire need of a transformation. Many facilities continue to administer psychotropic drugs - drugs used to treat mental disorders and diseases such as schizophrenia - to residents with dementia in an attempt to control the behavioral symptoms of the disease. Unfortunately, these drugs are more heavily relied on than they should be in spite of documented evidence of adverse outcomes in combination with dementia.

A study conducted by the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, assessed antipsychotic prescribing among newly admitted residents to nursing homes in 2006. It found that about 30 percent of those residents received at least one antipsychotic medication and suggests that the organizational culture at some nursing homes encourages the administration of these drugs. [1] Since the adverse side effects of these types of drugs have been known to cause severe injury or even death in individuals with dementia, it is clear that this prescription culture must change. No one understands this better than Dr. G. Allen Power, author of Health Professions Press' new transformative book, Dementia Beyond Drugs: Changing the Culture of Care.

In his eye-opening book, Dr. Power, a board-certified internist, geriatrician, nursing home practitioner, and Eden Alternative™ Educator, challenges all care providers to undertake a true operational change that would make these medication practices nearly obsolete. Through case studies and real-life examples, readers will learn how to move away from the institutional model of care – viewing individuals as patients defined by their dementia and using prescribed medications to control their "troublesome" behaviors – to an experiential model of care that treats individuals with dementia as the human beings they are, giving them the personal attention, respect, and dignity they deserve. Power shows how making this fundamental change in care will not only decrease the need for mood-altering drugs but will address the most common issues in dementia care such as overcoming communication challenges, minimizing anxiety and depression, discovering the causes of wandering, and gaining insight into paranoia and delusions.

"Using story after powerful story to reveal the shortcomings of a biomedical approach to care, Dr. Power has helped us open our eyes to a new way of viewing those living with dementia," says Nancy A. Fox, Chief Life Enhancement Officer, Pinon Management. "We have created worlds where our elders with dementia do not want to be, then medicated them to keep them there."

In addition to being a practicing geriatrician, G. Allen Power, MD., is the Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Rochester, NY. As a Certified Eden Alternative Educator, Dr. Power serves as an Eden Mentor at St. John's Home in Rochester, NY, a 475-resident skilled care facility, where he has worked since 2000. He is also a Fellow of the American College of Physicians – American Society of Internal Medicine. Dr. Power has practiced medicine for 25 years, the last 18 of which have been in long-term care and rehabilitation.

For more information, or to purchase this revolutionary book, visit our website at www.healthpropress.com/power.

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Dementia Beyond Drugs: Changing the Culture of Care
By G. Allen Power, M.D.
Health Professions Press, 2010
288 pages, 6 x 9 paperback, $32.95, ISBN 978-1-932529-56-2

Health Professions Press, Inc. (Baltimore, Maryland) is a publisher of high-quality educational resources for professionals in the fields of aging, long-term care, and health services administration. Visit www.healthpropress.com to learn more about this independent company, its vision, mission, and ever-growing list of publications.