Nursing communication with Dementia Patient

Question: Describe the challenges associated with intervention, assessment, discussion, and educating patient having dementia-related problems? Answer: Introduction Dementia adversely affects the receptive and expressive abilities of people communicating with health care professionals. It is hence the assessment of health care needs and assistance often becomes difficult. The present paper discusses the challenges associated with intervention, assessment, discussion, and educating patient having dementia-related problems. The next, effective strategies are discussed focusing on the utilization of resources, mechanism behind the sentence structure and choice of word (Norton, 2012). These measures not only ensure successful communication and understanding the concern of patients, but also help in providing effective care services. About Dementia Dementia is the problem associated with forgetfulness, difficulty in understanding, expressing, and communicating. In other words, the difficulty is more concerned with perception and expression related phenomenon. The problem is more links with children care and adult patients, tailoring the difficulty of language and patients ability to discuss (Moreira, O'Donovan Howlett, 2014). How nurses should communicate with Dementia patient Conditions related to pressure ulcer pain, cancer, diabetes, fracture, heart failure, dehydration and other similar condition often requires intensive communication. The objective of such discussion and intervention is to measure the severity of the condition and find possible measures suitable for treatment. The difficulty, nurses and other help care professionals often find with patient is dementia-related situation. Owing to the trait of forgetfulness and difficulty in perceiving and expressing ability, it becomes difficult to exchange the message and ideology. It is essential for health care professionals to develop critical skills, which not only produce effectiveness in communication, but also provide worthy benefit in care approach. Some of the critically required skills and understanding of nurses in conjunction with providing nursing and health care services with dementia patient are (Corcoran, 2011): The general strategy of using yes or no choice of questions for assessment is optimum. It is important to perceive whether patient is able to understand with eye or body movement. Instructions for patient should be simpler and care should be taken so that patient could be able to read and understand it easily. Verbal instructions should be simpler and easy to understand. It is more convenient to take into consideration of family members, carer in the conversation course. The approach should be lean towards the patient, so that choice can be successfully made by them. Other than this, it is the wisdom of nurses, to identify the level of difficulty in creating the sentence and the logical flow of ideas by the patient. Hence, appropriate the nurses have the responsibility to identify the meaning and deliver the message inaccurate and understanding form, back to the patient. Also on the other part, nurses can advise to family members are caregivers to go for speech therapy for recommendation and suggestions. In other case, nurses need to maintain the patience and have empathy for any odd situation related to combative or aggressive behavior by patient. Techniques for making effective communication and sentence structure Main idea - The main idea related to identification of the severity with respect to problem of perception and expression in patients. Help from speech therapy, family members and caregivers can be taken in this situation. Organization - It is important to take care of sentence structure, using simple instructions and confirming with various simpler means that patient is able to understand (Pollock, 2014). Content development - Evidence-based practice has potential to serve the fruitful outcomes. Use of resources - Use of yes-no type questions, simple instruction to read and use verbally, and confirming if the patient is able to understand. Using nonverbal approach with eye contact, physical touch and facial expression is the reliable resource for making communication easier. Grammar and mechanics - For the patients with limited English proficiency, and severe problem in understanding the words or verbal instruction, it is crucial for healthcare professionals to communicate. The most reliable way of finding solution in this regard is to use evidence-based protocols (Wang, Hsieh Wang, 2013). Sentence structure - identification of patient discomfort zone with words like pain, hurt, and ouch should be in the concern of nurses. Other than this, it is also helpful in using physical cues for the instruction, as patient can understand those signs easily compared to understanding and interpreting the verbal language. The identification of patients understanding can be obtained with respect to their ability to make choice among two simpler objects of options. Word choice - Use of simple words, such as phone rather than telephone; toilet than bathroom are useful in communication with dementia patients. Certainly, patients use to refer some specific words or phrases to express certain words. Say for example they patient want to ask how much time it will take to complete?, and they refer to word clock. In this case, nurses should refer to the caregiver or family member; whether patient use such words for any phrase (Jeon, 2011). Conclusion In conclusion, it is often to realize that health care professionals face many adverse condition and challenges in dealing with patients having dementia like problem. The concerned problematic situation is common with children and older adults. It is more important for health care professionals to identify such problem and use wisdom for simplifying the situation. References: Corcoran, M. A. (2011). Caregiving styles: A cognitive and behavioral typology associated with dementia family caregiving. The Gerontologist, gnr002. Jeon, Y. H., Sansoni, J., Low, L. F., Chenoweth, L., Zapart, S., Sansoni, E., Marosszeky, N. (2011). Recommended measures for the assessment of behavioral disturbances associated with dementia. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 19(5), 403-415. Moreira, T., O'Donovan, O., Howlett, E. (2014). Assembling Dementia Care: patient organisations and social research. BioSocieties, 9(2), 173-193. Norton, M. C., Dew, J., Smith, H., Fauth, E., Piercy, K. W., Breitner, J., ... Welshà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Bohmer, K. (2012). Lifestyle behavior pattern is associated with different levels of risk for incident dementia and Alzheimer's disease: the Cache County study. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 60(3), 405-412. Pollock, B. G., Mulsant, B. H., Rosen, J., Sweet, R. A., Mazumdar, S., Bharucha, A., ... Chew, M. L. (2014). Comparison of citalopram, perphenazine, and placebo for the acute treatment of psychosis and behavioral disturbances in hospitalized, demented patients. Wang, J. J., Hsieh, P. F., Wang, C. J. (2013). Long-term care nurses' communication difficulties with people living with dementia in Taiwan. Asian nursing research, 7(3), 99-103.