Abstract

INTRODUCTION: A lack of national consensus on the roles and responsibilities of Australian memory and cognition clinics contributes to the large variability seen across services. The introduction of guidelines and a quality assessment framework could facilitate greater harmonization and quality improvements. METHODS: We used a modified Delphi process to develop the guidelines. Pilot clinics completed a self-assessment, case-note audit, and review meeting to evaluate their service against the guidelines. RESULTS: The final guidelines included 160 standards on 14 different topics. Standards around maximum waiting times for an assessment and minimum post-diagnostic care responsibilities were particularly controversial. Seven clinics participated in the pilot. On average, clinics achieved 56% of standards (range of 18% to 87%). DISCUSSION: The Memory and Cognition Clinic Guidelines form the first step toward greater harmonization and quality improvements. Key learnings from the clinics’ feedback included reducing the number of secondary standards and streamlining data collection with the national dementia clinical quality registry. Highlights: We developed and implemented the first national consensus-based best-practice guidelines for memory and cognition clinics in Australia. The guidelines are based on consultation with 125 Australian health professionals and 89 Australians living with dementia and care partners. First-time national agreement on standards around maximum waiting times for an assessment and minimum post-diagnostic care requirements is presented in the guidelines. The guidelines were implemented in seven memory and cognition clinics from five different states. Clinicians' feedback included: reducing the number of secondary standards to increase conciseness and practicability should be considered for future iterations.

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

1-1-2025

Volume

11

Issue

1

Funding Information

National Health and Medical Research Council

School

School of Medical and Health Sciences

Grant Number

NHMRC Number : APP1152623, GNT1196150, 2008064

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Publisher

Wiley

Identifier

Katrina Fyfe: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0917-2963

Comments

Mehrani, I., Paradise, M., Low, L. F., Kurrle, S., Arsenova, V., Jahn, G., ... & Sachdev, P. S. (2025). Developing, implementing, and evaluating the first national Memory and Cognition Clinic Guidelines in Australia. Alzheimer's & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1002/trc2.70031

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Link to publisher version (DOI)

10.1002/trc2.70031