Clinician’s BPSD Guide 2023
Understanding and helping people experiencing changed behaviours and psychological symptoms associated with dementia.
ºÚÁÏÍø´óÊÂ¼Ç Sydney was funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care to develop a comprehensive suite of updated resources to support people who present with behaviours and psychological symptoms associated with dementia (BPSD)*. A Clinician’s BPSD Guide 2023 is a comprehensive overview of evidence and practice-based principles for supporting those with changed behaviours in dementia. This 2023 version is an update of the document Behaviour Management: A Guide to Good Practice, Managing Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (2012).Â
This resource is designed for clinicians with a role in caring for people living with dementia in residential aged care services (RACS), community care and acute care settings. The Clinician’s BPSD Guide provides guidance for clinicians supporting family members and carers as well as RACS and community care staff caring for people with dementia who present with BPSD. Additional considerations for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island peoples and those from a culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) background with dementia are included.
Limited A4 size hard copy versions of the Clinician’s BPSD Guide 2023 are available for educators, CNCs and clinical leaders from CHeBA free of charge, pending availability. Please email Kim Burns, or download the (approx 200 pages). The Clinician’s BPSD Guide is supported by a set of appendices which are available in electronic format only. See link to Appendices below. Appendix two to follow soon.
*This terminology and abbreviation are used respectfully for communication between professionals supporting people with dementia. For more information about consumer preferences on terminology, please consult  developed by Dementia Australia.
Clinician’s BPSD Field Guide 2023
The Clinician’s BPSD Field Guide 2023 was developed as a ‘travel-size’ summary of the comprehensive BPSD Guide*. This Field Guide aims to support health professionals working in all dementia care settings with a role in caring for people with dementia, who present with BPSD. It provides easy access to key messages, descriptions of the most common BPSD, potential causes and brief clinical scenarios to guide assessment and outline strategies for addressing BPSD.
Limited hard copies of the Clinician’s BPSD Field Guide 2023 are available from the BPSD team at CHeBA, free of charge, pending availability.
·¡³¾²¹¾±±ôÌýKim BurnsÌý´Ç°ùÌý.
*This terminology and abbreviation are used respectfully for communication between professionals supporting people with dementia. For more information about consumer preferences on terminology, please consult  developed by Dementia Australia.
A Clinician’s BPSD Guide appÂ
The Clinician’s BPSD Guide app provides a concise, easy-access summary of the key points from the comprehensive Clinician’s BPSD Guide 2023*.
This Clinician’s app was developed for those working in all dementia settings.
It provides easy access to key information relevant to the most commonly presenting BPSD, including:
- Presenting symptoms
- Contributing factors
- Differential diagnosis
- Assessment tools
- Conclusions based on a comprehensive
literature review - Precautions
- Suggested psychosocial, environmental, biological and pharmacological interventions with outcomes of the available evidence reported
- Brief clinical scenario/storyÂ
The Clinician’s BPSD app is available for free download
This project to develop updated resources to support those caring for people living with dementia also includes a Guide for Carers and an app in ‘user-friendly’ language developed for care partners and ‘hands-on’ carers in all care settings.