Efficacy of communication among nurses and elderly patients suffering from the dementia of Alzheimer type
Ahmad, Muhammad Nasir (2014)
Ahmad, Muhammad Nasir
Arcada - Nylands svenska yrkeshögskola
2014
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2014102815013
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2014102815013
Tiivistelmä
Dementia is a syndrome. It consists of multiple cognitive deficits sufficient to interfere with social and occupational functioning. The most common cause of dementia is Alzheimer disease. Patients with dementia have trouble with intentional communication because by definition, they have multiple cognitive deficits. They have difficulty producing linguistic information because they have trouble in thinking, generating, and ordering ideas. They have difficulty in comprehending language because of deficits in the cognitive processes and degradation and loss of knowledge. Dementia makes some changes in auditory and motor speech systems of demented patient. Due to these changes, demented patient may have impairments in understanding and processing speech. Therefore, nurses face difficulties in understanding the demented patients, which in turn becomes a challenge for nurses to take care of demented patients according to the patient’s preferences and demands. Effective communication is a powerful tool to address these problems properly. The aim of this research is to identify and examine the best means of communication between nurses and DAT patients. In order to achieve the aim of this research, the following research questions were formulated:
1. What are the main challenges faced by nurses working with dementia patients?
2. Which nursing skills are essential for effective communication with dementia patients?
3. How can nurses improve their communication skills with demented patients?
The study is based on literature review. 14 articles were selected to conduct this research. The result shows that nurses have to face many problems in caring of demented patients such as communication, emotional and behavioral problems of patients, disruption of connection from ‘no cure, no hope’ advocacy of patient’s family, ethical issues and insufficient knowledge of some nurses regarding dementia care. Nurses can minimize these problems by adopting appropriate communication strategies. However, advance education and training in field of dementia care is required for choosing suitable communication strategy, which is insufficient in new nurses. Therefore, it is concluded that new nurses should join the educational programs and training in dementia care to improve their communication skills. The effective communication and strategies offered in this study assist nurses to make successful evaluation of demented patients.
1. What are the main challenges faced by nurses working with dementia patients?
2. Which nursing skills are essential for effective communication with dementia patients?
3. How can nurses improve their communication skills with demented patients?
The study is based on literature review. 14 articles were selected to conduct this research. The result shows that nurses have to face many problems in caring of demented patients such as communication, emotional and behavioral problems of patients, disruption of connection from ‘no cure, no hope’ advocacy of patient’s family, ethical issues and insufficient knowledge of some nurses regarding dementia care. Nurses can minimize these problems by adopting appropriate communication strategies. However, advance education and training in field of dementia care is required for choosing suitable communication strategy, which is insufficient in new nurses. Therefore, it is concluded that new nurses should join the educational programs and training in dementia care to improve their communication skills. The effective communication and strategies offered in this study assist nurses to make successful evaluation of demented patients.