Not your grandmother's Alzheimer's disease. New priorities for research and care.

Thus, in terms of having non-pharmacological care recognized to be as important as pharmacological interventions and biomedical research, we must begin to consider the longer term effects of those interventions. It no longer seems appropriate to simply report on care recipient comfort and mood, decreased use of psychotropic medications, weight, and satisfaction. Studying care recipients in nursing homes is no longer enough. To have our contributions to dementia care recognized, nurses now must shift our attention to larger, more global ideas. We need to focus on maintaining individuals with dementia in their homes or other appropriate settings. It is only through the use of preventive and anticipatory measures that emphasize cost containment will nurses continue to be leaders in the field of dementia. This is not your grandmother's Alzheimer's disease.