A pilot dementia clinical quality registry to improve dementia clinical care

Clinical Quality Registries are powerful and cost-effective tools that promote and monitor the implementation of clinical guidelines into practice.
Clinical Quality Registries can improve adherence to guidelines, clinical performance and patient outcomes, as well as facilitate epidemiological
research and updates to guidelines. Internationally, many registries for dementia are in operation, some which have a primary focus on clinical
care. The case for an Australian dementia registry, with a clinical care component, is well established, particularly with the imperative to
implement the new Clinical Practice Guidelines and Principles of Care for People with Dementia in Australia. However, certain challenges exist
for the design and expansion of a registry, including the identification of an epidemiologically sound minimum data set, entry points, and
development of a sustainable cost structure for a national roll-out. This proposal seeks funds to pilot a Clinical Quality Dementia Registry to
establish procedures, including testing a minimum data set and recruitment strategy, by leveraging off a well characterised cohort of older adults
with dementia from the Aspirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) study. ASPREE is a primary prevention study evaluating the role
of low dose aspirin in healthy adults aged 70 and over at enrolment. ASPREE has recruited over 16,500 Australians, and engaged with over
2,000 General Practitioners, across both regional and metropolitan settings in South Eastern Australia. Approximately 800 cases of dementia in
this cohort will have occurred by the end of 2017. The pilot will also capitalise on the Monash University School of Public Health and
Preventive Medicine’s unique national expertise and leadership in registry development. Outcomes from this pilot registry will inform and assist
in the efficient development of an eventual Australian National Dementia Registry.