Nursing Home Resident Agitation: Predictors and Interventions
To critically review selected articles investigating and discussing predictors of nursing home resident agitation, and recommended interventions.
Burgio et al., (2007, p. 642) provides a working definition of nursing home resident agitation "… as verbal, vocal, and motor activities that are repetitive, outside of social standards, and considered inappropriate by staff." Agitation can often involve physical and/or verbal aggression, which can increase the risk of harm to residents and staff, disrupt activities, divert precious resources, and lead to staff burnout and high turnover.
Critical literature review.
Medical literature databases were searched using the keywords 'agitation, nursing home, and demetia' and a limited number of articles published within the last 10 years were selected for review.
Inclusion Criteria. Articles investigating and/or reviewing the etiology of agitation in geriatric nursing home residents suffering from dementia were selected, as were articles recommending interventions.
Exclusion Criteria. Only those articles involving agitation and geriatric...
Discussions and research involving younger and healthier patients were excluded. Articles older than 10 years were excluded. The number of articles selected was limited to between 5 and 10.
Aims. Understanding the etiology of nursing home resident agitation, and developing effective interventions, could significantly improve the quality of life for both residents and staff.
The following questions were addressed during the review process:
What were the goals of the research?
What type of study?
What demographic was studied?
If there were controls, how did they differ from the study population?
What was the experimental strategy?
What were the conclusions?
Were they significant?
What recommendations were made?
Results
The two cohort studies reviewed here used computer assisted behavioral observation systems (CABOS) to identify predictors of agitation in geriatric nursing home residents suffering from dementia. One study monitored 78 nursing home residents (Burgio, Park, Hardin, and…
