Holler if it hurts? Strategies for identifying & assessing pain in people with dementia

Hello everyone, Much research has shown that people with dementia are at an increased risk for having their pain under-assessed and under-treated, leading to serious physical and psychosocial consequences including: Gait impairment (leading to increased fall risk) Decreased appetite Sleep disturbances Agitation Physical combativeness Wandering Decrease in daily activities Impaired cognition Verbal aggression Depression Social […]

Decreasing use of antipsychotic medications….

We thought you would find this recent article interesting as you and your staff work to improve the lives of your residents with dementia and decrease the use of antipsychotic medications as much as possible. The article discusses the results of several research trials and offers some approaches you may like to try: http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/07/19/537907127/for-dementia-patients-engagement-can-improve-mood-and-quality-of-life In […]

Care plan snapshots: Making care plans useful

Developing and updating care plans to ensure they include the required information takes a lot of staff time and attention. Unfortunately, they don’t usually live up to their potential for day to day usefulness and practicality. To help address this, we’ve developed a Care Plan Snapshot…a “Readers Digest” version of a care plan that highlights […]

Best practice: Disruptive vocalizations

Disruptive vocalizations are any verbal noises (screaming, yelling, nonsense talking, cursing) which are generally considered unusual, inappropriate or are upsetting to others. Disruptive vocalizations may be the result of a person having unmet needs and not being able to express them to staff or may be due to too much or too little sensory stimulation. […]