DPEN Education

What is DPEN Education?

DPEN is committed to educating current and future healthcare professionals about in-depth dementia care. This is done through a specialized curriculum that focuses on caring for people living with dementia and their family/friend care partner(s) across different healthcare settings. After completing DPEN training, learners will understand nursing roles and develop the skills to identify and evaluate cognitive, behavioral, emotional, spiritual, and physical challenges; evaluate health-related social needs; and evaluate whether their health system is able to treat dementia well. DPEN training offers a foundational, structured, in-depth overview of how to evaluate and address conditions that occur together (comorbidities), establish a strong relationship with people living with dementia, and establish care plans.

A New, Exciting Opportunity to Learn

The DPEN curriculum is offered through the University of Washington School of Nursing—the leading educator of nurses among public colleges and universities—to second year BSN students.

Read more about the UW School of Nursing’s ranking.

Examples of DPEN curriculum modules include:

• Introduction to Comprehensive Dementia Care for Nurses
• Mood and Behavior Management in People Living With Dementia
• Medical Management in the Context of Dementia
• Care Partner Needs and Self-Care
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in Dementia Care
• Nursing roles in different care settings
• Dementia Care Planning, Care Management, and Care Navigation
• Dementia Care nurse’s roles in advocacy and policy

View the free Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) sponsored module, narrated by Dr. Soo Borson.

View other free trainings by DPEN team members on the CHSIE’s webpage under Ambulatory Care Nursing Modules.

How to Get Involved with DPEN Education

If you are interested in partnering with DPEN to offer Dementia Care training to nursing students or practicing nurses—or if you are a student interested in becoming a Dementia Care Scholar at the UW—please fill out our Dementia Care Training Interest Form.

You can also download our Dementia Care Scholar Infographic to share with friends and colleagues who may be interested in learning more in becoming a Dementia Care learner or partnering with DPEN.

New opportunities for students and community members

• If you are a UW undergraduate nursing student who’s interested in reviewing our dementia nursing modules, view our student recruitment flyer.
• If you are a person living with early-stage dementia or a care partner of someone living with dementia who’s interested in reviewing our curriculum’s case studies, view our community recruitment flyer.

DPEN Education Programs

DPEN Program	Learner	Length	Type	Content
UW Dementia Care Scholars	Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) students	2 quarters	Hybrid	Seminars facilitated by experienced faculty 23 pre-study modules (45-60 minutes each) of interactive online content Structured clinical training in different care settings: Acute care Primary care Long-term care Memory care Students have an opportunity to work as nurse technicians and to receive reimbursement for their clinical work and training.
UW Dementia Care Certificate for Practicing Nurses	Practicing registered nurses	Varies	Hybrid	Pre-study selected modules (45-60 minutes each) of interactive online content.  Organizations can select modules from the menu of 23 options. Facilitated 2-hour sessions with subject matter experts that are focused on consolidation and integrating the pre-study content, Q&A, and case reviews.  The number of pre-study modules and facilitated sessions is determined in partnership with the participating organization and reflects training needs and the current level of expertise of the nurses.
UW Dementia Care Fellows	Practicing registered nurses who have precepted	2 quarters	Hybrid	This designation is granted to practicing RN’s who completed the UW Dementia Care Certificate training and precepted UW Dementia Care Scholars for at least 100 hours over 2 quarters.

DPEN partnered with Emory University’s Nurse-run Integrated Memory Care Clinic to pilot the Dementia Care Certificate training for nurses currently in the workforce as part of the Reimagining Nursing Initiative.

Our Sponsors

DPEN Education is supported by The Macy Foundation.