Psychosocial Evaluation Essay

Alzheimer disease touches me very deeply because my great grandmother died from it and me and my mom helped a lot with her care and my grandmother is in the early stages of it too. It is more common in people whose mother had it than if it the father had it which is the case from my great and grandmother. “Early in the disease, older people have difficulty remembering names and recent events and later they demonstrate symptoms that include impaired judgment, disorientation, confusion, behavior changes, and trouble speaking, swallowing and walking” (Tabloski, 214, p.619). My grandma has some of this symptoms specially confusion she is still pretty young but you sure can see the symptoms now and then. It is important that the family is involved

Early diagnosis of dementia can have a huge impact on the individual and their family and friends.

Alzheimer’s disease is incurable, but there are many stages, warning signs, and risk factors that can serve as detection devices for those who have older adults in their lives. One of the most common early signs of this form of dementia is memory loss. While it is normal for people to occasionally forget things, such as appointments and names, people with Alzheimer’s tend to forget these things more often and are not able to recall them even after a period of time. Other signs that signify a possible case of Alzheimer’s is difficulty performing familiar tasks (cooking, brushing teeth), problems with language (using odd words, failing to remember correct words), disorientation (forgetting where one lives, not knowing how he got to a certain place), problems with abstract thinking (forgetting what numbers represent), misplacing items (putting a hair brush in the freezer), moodiness, personality changes (confusion, suspicion, fearfulness), and loss of initiative

Early diagnosis helps a person and their family prepare, they may want to learn about what they about to face increase awareness of dementia, its implications and Integrated Care Pathway. They would be able to look at benefit and legal implication such any benefits entitlements and power of attorney. The person and their family would

He was used to live in his brother’s shadow, but when the boat accident happened to them, he was the only one to survive. As he was always indentifying himself the less important one, he considered it was wrong that he was the one who would still have a life. As a result of nervous breakdown, he tried to kill himself with cutting his wrists in the bathroom, fortunately his father found out and save him. Then he went to the psychiatric for four months. When he comes back, there are still issues he needs to deal with.

Receiving an early diagnosis is better for the Alzheimer’s patient. An early diagnosis helps families plan for the future, make arrangements, care of financial matters, and develop support networks. Developing the disease early provides a greater opportunity to get involved with clinical trials. Diagnosing the disease early prolongs the time a patient can be managed at home (“A Treatment Overview of Alzheimer’s Disease”). Early diagnosis can help retain function in the victim for months to years (“Alzheimer’s Disease Fact Sheet” 4). With an early diagnosis, scientists can start finding the best treatment for the victim (“A Treatment Overview of Alzheimer’s Disease” 1). Doctors find the patients tolerance for medicines and therapies with an early diagnosis. Doctors also ask the patients opinions and preferences when the patients are first diagnosed.

In the book, Surviving Alzheimer’s: Practical tips and soul-saving wisdom for caregivers, the writer, Paula Spencer Scott, gives insightful advice in regards to caring for someone that suffers from the unfortunate neurological disorder, Alzheimer’s. Scott does not hesitate to share multiple ideas, experiences about trying these ideas, and even included professional advice from geriatric specialist

Dementia is a progressive disease that damages brain cells, wipes out memories, and changes the way a human being understands and functions in the world(Colistoga Press, 2013). When someone is diagnosed with Dementia or Alzheimers, it will change their entire life and their family. When diagnosed early, the patient can help plan their care while they have the ability to do so. The family also has time to plan care for their loved one and research the best option of care for them as they progress in their disease. Although there is not a single test that diagnosis dementia, your healthcare physician can make the diagnosis according to several exams, tests, and review of symptoms. Each person with dementia is different and it affects them differently, and they need to be treated so. It is important to study from the perspective of the family and person who is struggling with dementia." There is no 'one size fits all ' when you are dealing with a person who has dementia" (Rubinstein, N., 2011). They are unique, and the person you are dealing with is one of a kind, and their relationship with their family is one of a kind, so each person diagnosed with dementia will respond differently to treatment and care.

I think it is important for people to be aware of Alzheimer disease, especially adults who have a family member in late adulthood. If people were to have knowledge on how to help or treat someone who has Alzheimer disease it would be beneficial for both of them and it would make living together much easier. Many people don’t know what Alzheimer disease is “Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia. The risk of AD increases with age” (Takashi 2015). As someone ages they are most likely to get Alzheimer disease, this due to generalized degeneration of the brain. Alzheimer’s is a complex disease with multiple risk factors. Age and genetics are outside ones control, but many others are within your sphere of influence. These factors can be quite powerful when it comes to your brain health. I personally feel like I am well educated about this topic because school has done a very good job at teaching me how to deal and understanding people who have Alzheimer. Psychology has done a great job at helping understand this disease even further. The reason why I picked this topic was to try and find different ways to prevent and learn about Alzheimer disease because I have a great grandmother who has Alzheimer’s disease. My parents and grandparents would always tell me how difficult it is for them to help her out and have to deal with all her necessities. They would have to take turns taking care of her until they decided to hire someone to come take care of her.

In the pamphlet Basics of Alzheimer’s Disease, the Alzheimer’s Association adds late onset, traditionally known simply as Alzheimer’s, targets primarily people 65 and older. The disease follows a series of steps from mild decline with little noticed changes to very severe cognitive decline where the final stage of the disease is in progress (Basic 19-21). Throughout the stages, independence becomes lost and family members will become care takers and in the later stages nursing homes or hospice may be needed. One book encourages the care giver to communicate through body language, tone, and written instructions to help alleviate as much stress as possible for those living with Alzheimer’s (Living 47). The book further adds when caring for a person with Alzheimer’s remember to maintain patience and to show respect .

After Alzheimer's is diagnosed in a parent, or other elderly family member, the caregiver has the task of deciding what the best form of care for the patient is. In order to do this they have to fully understand what the disease is, and

Throughout the severe stage of this disease, the patient will continue to lose control over their mental function and this consequence will greatly affect their ability to complete daily activities (“Alzheimer’s Stages: How the Disease Progresses” ___). During this time, people tend to lose control over physical abilities such as walking or swallowing, need consistent assistance in completion of daily tasks, and there is also a decline in communication ability. They will require constant supervision and assistance with everyday tasks, become especially susceptible to illnesses like pneumonia, and lose the ability to see the world as it truly is (“Stages of Alzheimer’s” ___). The cause of this stages’ occurrence is the plaques and tangles present in the brain which causes the tissue to become much smaller (“Alzheimer’s Disease Fact Sheet” ___). Sometimes, those afflicted with the disease may be in bed until their body cannot continue supporting itself and they die. “Late-stage care decisions can be some of the hardest families face (“Stages of Alzheimer’s”

She or he needs help for even the most basic and easy tasks in everyday life such as eating, cleaning and moving around. Memory is a thing of the past (never better said), recent and past memories are severely damaged and for them is very difficult even to recognize people. They behave like a little child: they cry, shout, flounder and it is impossible for them to understand an easy explanation. The periods with aggressive and uninhibited behavior also intensify in this phase. They try to speak but the only thing that they put together are babbles; but there is an enormous quantity of patients who remains rigid and quiet. For them it is very difficult to control their sphincters, they sometimes even choke, it is normally hard for them to swallow and they cannot fully control their actions. Their defenses are lowered in this phase and complications such as infections, dehydration, malnutrition or sores. At the end the cause of their death is normally one of these complications, Alzheimer itself does not “kill”

Alzheimer 's disease is a progressive disease that destroys memory and other important mental functions. It is also the disease that took my grandfather. Since there is no cure and because of how late he was diagnosed, there was little the doctors could do for him. I personally noticed changes in my grandfather, when he would tell the same stories over and over again and not even know it, or would ask things like “when’d you get here?” when I had been there for hours. It eventually got to the point where he needed total assistance with eating, dressing, using the bathroom and all other daily self-care tasks. If he had been diagnosed sooner he could have adopted certain lifestyle habits that could have helped maintain or potentially improve his health and extended his life. That 's why it is so important to me to be able to diagnose this disease early. If he had known before it was too late he could have lived a longer and healthier life, but because of the research that 's happening right now, scientists will soon be able to diagnose it before it is too severe. To diagnose Alzheimer 's Disease early, scientists are using neuroimaging such as MRI and CT which is important, although the lack of a cure, because after diagnosis, patients can improve and slow brain deterioration by

With the continuous changes in healthcare, evaluation of students’ clinical knowledge and skills relies on the need for continuous evaluation. Evaluation is the process of using data to make judgements about students’ individual performance. Evaluation of clinical performance provides data from which educators use to judge the extent to which students have acquired specific learning outcomes (Billings & Halstead, 2016). With the use of best practice evaluation methods, clinical performance can be evaluated to ensure quality patient care. Educators face a challenging task when providing evaluation that is fair and reasonable. Tasked with evaluating students in the clinical setting, educators can evaluate how students integrate theory and apply it to real-life situations. Observations of performance in the clinical setting should focus on the outcomes to be met and competencies to be developed (Oermann & Gaberson, 2014). Developing a clinical evaluation tool to determine whether students can think critically, prioritize problems, and complete patient care procedures correctly is essential. There are a variety of evaluation methods to use in nursing education. Depending on the learning outcomes to be measured will determine which tool best evaluates the students’ performance. Clinical practice is an essential and highly significant component of nursing education. Education programs are obligated to respond to government requests for well-educated healthcare professionals.