Alzheimer’s Disease

Give a brief discussion on Alzheimer’s disease as a factor that will influence in my nursing career.

 

Introduction

Alzheimer’s disease is a very common disease seen in older adults which makes the communication difficult between the health care providers like nurses and the patients and their family. Patients with Alzheimer’s disease do not remember things and get frustrated frequently. Most of the time Alzheimer patients are recommended to nursing care facilities so that they can get best services and care which they cannot get at home. This article will help the nurses how to communicate with the patients and treat them and how they can make their interactions less stressful for the patients and will help them in getting success in their nursing career.

About Alzheimer’s

This disease starts with the short term memory loss and with its continuation they also start forgetting the long term memory. Gradually this disease worsens with time and has no cure. Patients cannot think in normal manner when they reaches the last stage and become very dependent on others and at this stage the role of nursing staff becomes very crucial.

How nurses should communicate with Alzheimer’s patient

The major role nurses and health care providers should play is to manage the uncertainty which the patient and family members are undergoing after diagnosis and during treatment of the disease. Nurses should properly communicate the disease to the patient and his family members by easing their experiences. Providing detailed information about the disease to the family members is the most common and social support that nurses can provide. Nurses should feel the importance of educating the family about the disease not only by educational material like pamphlets or through websites but also by using analogies and metaphor. For eg neurons in the brain are misfiring, there is a object which is rolling around and cutting string and thus causing the disease of memory loss (Anee, 2013).

Effective Communication Techniques

When the patient enters a new environment filled with everything new and strange to him will increase the anxiety, agitation and confusion within him. Thus through effective communication techniques the nursing staff can provide better deal with the patients and ease their anxiety they are undergoing because of the disease.

To deal with the behavior problems the nurses should know the patient and his family members very well. For e.g. knowing what kind of things lead to poor behavior in the patients and should smartly deal with those situations like if the patient is less agitated and confused in the morning than he should be taken for both in the morning. The nurse should eliminate all those physical, emotional and communication things which trigger the patient. Should patiently listen to the patient and spend quality time with them. Make the sessions interactive by making them eager to share their feelings and when required repeat back to them to make sure they regain and understand what you are saying.

While communicating the nurse should always begin by telling her name always and calling the patient’s name. Nurse should always speak from front not by side ways, speak slowly clearly and specifically. Should always show warm and friendly facial expressions. Should patiently listen to the patient and give him plenty of time to speak because it is difficult for him to recall the memory. One should never test the patient’s memory by using words like “do you remember” or “you are losing your memory” etc such sentences will increase their resistance.

While dealing with the patient, the nurse should give him simple directions one at a time so that he can recall easily. During his personal care, the nurse should inform and explain each step she will be doing so that the patient every time recalls the procedure and become comfortable.

Managing disruptive and dangerous behaviors

Patients usually at last stage of Alzheimer’s disease show unacceptable behaviors, sometime they become violent and controlling them become a difficult situation. In such condition the nursing staff should (Joseph, 2015):

• Make the patient calm and sit. Speak calmly and politely.
• Stop the task whatever you are doing give full attention to the patient.
• When patient become violent, still be calm and protect yourself from injuries. Do not fight back or pull away and remove the person from injury.
• Always try to study the cause of such behaviors. Patients when they are hungry, thirsty, dirty or wet make such types of noises and behaviors so try to meet the patient’s need.

Conclusion

Caring the Alzheimer’s patient requires skill, patience and a team effort. The Nursing staff plays a very important role in dealing with the Alzheimer’s patient as they are in personal touch with the patient always. A proper communication and behavior should be followed to ensure that the patient and his family members get highest quality of care, dignity and respect.

References

Anne M. Stone. (2013). Communicating About Alzheimer’s disease. Communication currents knowledge for communicating well. A publication of the National communication Association. Vol 8, Issue 2. Retrieved from http://www.natcom.org/CommCurrentsArticle.aspx?id=3603

Joseph. (2015). Acute Hospitalization and Alzheimer’s disease: A special kind of care. National Institute on Aging. Retrieved from http://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/publication/acute-hospitalization-and-alzheimers-disease