As the number of dementia patients with end-stage illness is increasing; a higher number of social workers will be required to treat them in the future. It is important to evaluate the behavioral patterns of social workers dealing with such patients. The main purpose of such research is to identify the possible causes for such behavior so that necessary measures can be taken to reverse the situation.

Role of Hospice Social Workers

As shown by the statistics presented by NHPCO, 2005, although more than 81% of end-stage dementia patients are adults over 65 years, only 8% are found to be treated in hospice settings. Since dementia lists under the top five illnesses causing death in elderly patients above 65 years, this equates to only a fraction of the thousands of patients who die annually of dementia receiving specialized end of life care provided by hospice programs (Simons et al. 2011)....
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