Interprofessional Collaborative Practice: Dementia Case Studies Engage Nurse Practitioner and Occupational Therapy Students.

Inclusion of interprofessional education for students in health care professions is supported through the Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice (Interprofessional Education Collaborative Expert Panel, 2011). Both occupational therapy (OT) and nurse practitioner (NP) students learn how to provide care for individuals with mild or major neurocognitive disorders (NCDs), which may include patient disruptive behaviors. One approach that OT students learn to use with this population is the management of those behaviors, whereas NP students may benefi t from learning more about the use of nonpharmacologic approaches with the same group. For behavioral symptoms in individuals with NCD, nonpharmacologic and collaborative professional approaches were promoted by Gitlin, Kales, and Lyketsos (2012).