Overview of Dementia Essay

for England (QCF) and Edexcel Level 3 Diploma in Health and Social Care (Adults) for Wales and

“Alzheimer`s disease is called a family disease” (ALZlive), because it impacts every family member who is slowly watching a loved one decline. Alzheimer’s disease has an impact on caretakers because caregivers can lead to a variety of emotions, from guilt to anger. When dealing with a client who has Alzheimer; caretakers have a huge responsibility, which can cause stress or depression. If the caretaking is a family member it might lead to finical problems, which can lead to the hard and controversial decision of putting someone in a nursing home, that is better equipped. Guilt is the main emotion that a caretaker can express “I have never spoken to my mother`s doctor, it occurs to me that other children of

A4) Describe the impact the behaviours of carers and others may have on an individual with dementia.

2.2 Explain the importance of recording possible signs or symptoms of dementia in an individual in line with agreed ways of working

People who have dementia are not aware of requirements for living. They can forget to do the essential things that are vital. Taking medicines, hygiene and even eating are often forgotten. They can get lost or hurt and not understand what is necessary to correct a situation. Turning on the cooker or water and forgetting to turn it off again, locking doors, crossing streets etc can all be dangerous even deadly. In the same way as you would not think an infant capable of self care, a person with dementia cannot be either. Considering the facts that they cannot act in the manner of a

These strategies may help with relieving distress, agitation and challenging behaviours. Strategies when dealing with dementia patients may include, “introduce yourself at each encounter, use touch as appropriate, try to determine the cause of the behaviour and then try to reduce or eliminate it. These behaviours may be caused by boredom, which you would try and use activities as a distraction, Pain which we3 will try non-pharmacological treatment first e.g.: heat packs, Anxiety where we will use reassurance and diversion. Often using a soft approach such as smiling, pleasant voice tones while talking calmly in short sentences will help defuse a situation.

There are many diseases that result in dementia. The most common types of dementia are Alzheimer’s disease; vascular dementia; Pick’s disease; dementia with Lewy bodies (Fronto-Temporal); Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD); Huntington’s disease.

There are many reasons that Mrs. Yowell may have impaired mental functioning (see Table 1). The first and easiest reason to rule out would be a urinary tract infection (UTI). A urine sample can show if there are white blood cells (indicating infection) present in the urine. The increased levels of bacteria in an elderly person’s body can cause toxicity which leads to the altered mental status (Midthun, 2004). Most noted changes are confusion, agitation and lethargy.

Patients with dementia are highly subject to psychosocial interventions. Thus, frank will tend to rely on his two children (Thomas and Jenny) and staff at the residential home for support and protection. Psychosocial model of care involves psychological therapy, which can be delivered on a one-to-one/group basis to meet important psychological needs as well as have impact on physiological level (Bartle and Frankland, 2008). These psychological therapies include Cognitive stimulation therapy (C.S.T), Reminiscence and Animal

A topic I learned more of this semester in regards to the older population was dementia. Some loss in memory function is an inevitable consequence of aging, and as one ages, it takes more time to process information and retrieve memories. However, "Dementia is a general term that refers to progressive, degenerative brain dysfunction, including deterioration in memory, concentration, language skills, visuospatial skills, and reasoning, that interferes with a person's daily functioning" (Mauk, 2014, p. 377). This loss of mental skills affects the ability to function over time, causing problems with memory and how one thinks, impacting these individual's overall quality of life.

Dementia is characterized as a condition where the mental processes of cognition and memory start to deteriorate. It is described as a syndrome that hinders the daily lives of those who have it and is characterized by memory and thinking impairment. The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer’s Disease and the second most common is vascular dementia. Dementia is a syndrome occurring usually, but not limited, to people over the age of 40 and is due to brain damage caused by natural deteriorating, stroke or can be brought on by factors such as excessive drinking or drug abuse. Dementia is best cared for in its early stages and, therefore, an early diagnosis is essential. Recognizing the symptoms by both the dementia patient and the

This assignment critically discusses about dementia, a widespread disability among older adults today. It provides an introduction to dementia and analyses its prevalence in society. The various forms of dementias are elaborated with description about dysfunctions and symptoms. Nursing Assessment and Interventions are provided in the further sections which discusses about actions nurses should take on while evaluating patients and treating them. Finally, communication, an important Activity of Daily Living (ADL) is explored and patient/carer advice is presented so as to maintain good health conditions in the patient.

Jose M. C. de Almeida and H. Killaspy argue that the combination of pharmacological health programs with social curing programs is the most effective way of curing mental disease: “One of the main reasons why the rate of longer-term mental health service development is so often insufficient has to do with the lack of co-ordination between health services and services provided by other sectors, in particular the social sector.” (Caldas de Almeida, Killaspy, 2011) One of the examples from my care giving practice can be the work with senior people who suffered from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. There was a case with one of the patients having Alzheimer’s disease combined with partial memory loss. The man used to walk in unbuttoned shirts because he was either unable to button them or he was too irritated to do that. I was advised by colleagues and came to the conclusion that at least in order to lower the patient’s level of irritation group or personal discussions of the problem are required. Even though it was to some extent emotionally difficult to conduct successful discussions with people suffering from mental disorders conversation in the group of different women and men suffering from one disease really helped. Moreover, there were some walks with a couple of patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease as well as a number of picnics. This really helped patients to see the actual results of medication and their overall emotional state. Moreover, each social care

Delirium, Depression, and Dementia are some of the most common psychological diagnoses in the elderly today. The three D’s are difficult to differentiate between in older adults because they overlap with each other and can all exist in the same patient at once. Delirium, Dementia, and Depression all affect the elderly’s quality of life and often increase the risks for one another (Downing, Caprio & Lyness, 2013). For the purpose of this paper I will be focusing primarily on the diagnosis of Dementia, the prevention, and nursing measures associated with it, but first I would like to differentiate between Delirium and Depression because Dementia is often associated with the two in the older adult population.

Out of the rapidly inclining population in the world, there are people who develop dementia every 66 seconds(“2016 Alzheimer’s Disease”). Being such a common disease in the elderly, there are 47.5 million people in the world with this disease(“2016 Alzheimer’s Disease”). Once families start to realize that their parents and grandparents have developed this, they start to wonder if they are able to live on their own. Within a few months, a decision is made whether if it is best for them to be put into a nursing home. Most often, those with dementia do happen to end up in nursing homes. Many wonder if being put into a nursing home will actually cause their dementia and their ability to live on their own to worsen. With the effects of activities, this could change. Activities help slow the deterioration of the brain(Smith). The activities and exercises performed by nursing homes to help improve the overall cognitive development in dementia patients. Nursing homes should induct purposeful daily activities to improve cognitive, social, and psychological development in dementia care