The need for holistic management of behavioral disturbances in dementia

Dementia is now the leading cause of admission to residential aged care facilities (RACF) in the developed world (Van Rensbergen and Nawrot, 2010), with prevalence rates among residents estimated to be approximately 70% (Zimmerman et al., 2014). In addition, dementia is now the 4th leading cause of death in high-income countries with this expected to rise to the 3rd leading cause of death by 2030 (World health Organization, 2015). Despite the prevalence of the condition, the amount of teaching time devoted to dementia in medical school curricula remains low and does not adequately prepare graduates for their work as doctors (Tullo and Allan, 2011; Tullo and Gordon, 2013). As a consequence, many general practitioners feel their level of confidence in managing behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) is very low (Buhagiar et al., 2011).