The misconception that aging adults will eventually experience dementia is a falsie that many individuals of varying ages and professions believe. Dementia is not a common cognitive change that all elderly clients undergo, but for those that do this impairment drastically changes their health care, life style, and independence. Persons in the health care setting must learn to differentiate dementia from other conditions to improve individual care and advance healing motives to reduce the incurable symptoms of the elderly client. Other problematic situations that may occur when an elderly client has dementia are indicating the level of pain these individuals are experiencing, understanding the effect of dynamic health care, and level of quality of life. Symptoms of Dementia In order to give the best care possible to individuals with the disease dementia, it is important to understand exactly what the symptoms are. Dementia has a slow onset and it often goes unrecognized because it has a stable progression over time, anywhere from months to years. (Burns & Mcilfatrick, 2015) The individual who has dementia has generally normal alertness, attention, and orientation to person. Although, orientation to place or time can be harder to conceive as dementia advances. The most commonly known symptoms of dementia include impaired memory of recent or long-term memories, thoughts diminish which eventually results in impaired judgement and difficulty finding the right words. (Burns & Mcilfatrick, 2015) Sometimes, the individuals make inappropriate statements, have increased chances of personality changes, and some try to hide the changes of intellect they are experiencing. (Burns & Mcilfatrick, 2015) Knowing these symptoms of dementia is important during the diagnosis period or routine assessment because early findings relieve rapid progression and prepare both the caregiver and the individual with advancing dementia what is to come and how to adapt to the new lifestyle and the onset of the disease. Indicating Level of Pain Conducting a pain assessment for elderly individuals who have dementia is extremely challenging for the individual experiencing the pain and health care personnel providing relief. In order to elevate pain, the client must remember their pain, interpret their level, and experience of pain to the health care provider, those struggling with dementia cannot do these things. Due to this complexity, an extremely large proportion of individuals with dementia experiencing pain go untreated. A health assessment of an individual with dementia is then largely conducted by the emotions and behaviorisms associated with the pain assessment in hopes to relieve pain. Correlation has been shown that nurses who consistently work with same individuals with dementia (such as those in a long term care facility) learn their client’s behavioral responses and are more likely to recognize pain and …show more content…
This is obtained by watching the apparent control of how easy or difficult it is for the individual to execute a particular behavior (i.e. happy or sad). This is known to be subjected by various internal factors such as ability and knowledge and external elements including barriers and dependence on caregivers of the individual under assessment. These factors elicit the client to respond in the manner in which they feel. This method has derived the most positive outcomes to achieving relieved pain. The TPB is a network that classifies nurses’ understanding and approaches with dementia clients that could possibly be experiencing pain that may impact or obstruct the effectiveness of a pain assessment. (Burns & Mcilfatrick, 2015) Authors Burns and McIlfatrick of Palliative care in dementia: literature review of nurses’ knowledge and attitudes towards pain assessment” stated “If nurses perceive pain assessment as difficult to do, intention will be low”. But if systematically approached without influence the TPB proposes a positive approach to identifying pain during an …show more content…
First and foremost, as a nurse it is essential to have the knowledge to recognize signs, symptoms, and cues that are related to dementia. In this way, a nurse better able to identify and treat pain effectively to benefit the patient. A nurse must be diligent in reading an individual’s mannerisms, behaviors, and reactions to adequately aid dementia clients in active pain management. If just these two steps are made, quality of life for both the individual with dementia, the caregiver, and the people involved with the client’s lives are improved. This approach to assessment, diagnosis, and detecting pain contribute to the successful management of older adult’s