Dementia Five Important Issues Caregivers Should Be

Dementia

Five important issues caregivers should be aware of when working with dementia patients.

dementia is a "progressive and terminal" disease that "you can die from," according to a peer-reviewed article in BMC Medicine (van der Steen, 2013, p. 1). Van der Steen conducted a survey using 372 nursing home patients from 28 nursing facilities in the Netherlands. The initial survey reflected that just 43% of the families understood that "you can die from dementia," but 94% of the physicians responded affirmatively to the statement that "you can die from dementia" (van der Steen).

Many dementia patients do not progress into what is known as "advanced dementia," but they die earlier from "comorbid disease" or "dementia-related health problems," van der Steen explains. Hence, advance care planning (i.e., knowing the facts about dementia and discussing the realities with the patient while he or she can still make decisions) can make palliative care more comfortable for the patient's "end of life" experience (van der Steen, 1-2).

Three: Memory loss causes dementia patients to ask the "…same questions over and over again," and this is due as well to the patient's feelings of insecurity and anxiety because they know they're not coping well with life (Alzheimers.org.uk). Also, patients may pace up and down because they want to go to the bathroom, but "…they are unable to tell you"; they may be fidgeting "constantly" but the caregiver can find a safe place for the patient to walk up and down and to deal with the fidgeting the patient could be given a soft toy to occupy hands (Alzheimers.org.uk).

Four: Dementia patients often show a "lack of inhibition" (they may do inappropriate things like "exposing genitals in public") because they have forgotten social mores and values (Alzheimers.org.uk).