Improving care for patients with dementia hospitalized for acute somatic illness in a specialized care unit: a feasibility study

Abstract

The SCU has improved the care of patients with challenging behavior. Decline in ADL function and institutionalization occurred to a lesser degree than would be expected in this group of patients. Despite the selection of patients with behavioral problems, transfer to psychiatry was rare.

Geriatric Patients With Cognitive Impairment

“…Moreover, the sample from the LUCAS hospital cohort reveals a higher rate of falls, in accordance with the 25% to 27% fall rates reported in other studies (31). Over the period of data collection, twice as many highrisk patients from nursing facilities (e34-e37) were transferred to the cognitive geriatric service as were transferred to other wards (18% versus 9%).…”

“…The first specialized geriatric ward in Germany was established at the Elisabeth Hospital in Essen in 1990 (by Prof. Nehen); since 2000, the number of such units has been growing steadily (28,29), though very little information about them has been published to date (30)(31)(32).…”

Hospital Staff Nurse Perceptions of Competency to Care for Patients With Psychiatric or Behavioral Health Concerns

“…Care delivery challenges for nurses include differentiating psychiatric symptoms from medical conditions; this requires attending to symptoms of the psychiatric disorder itself (Palmu, Suominen, Vuola, & Isometsa, 2010), problems confounded by medical conditions (Kelley, Siegler, & Reid, 2008;Zieschang et al, 2010), and preventable adverse events stemming from possible patientYstaff communication problems (Bartlett, Blais, Tamblyn, Clermont, & MacGibbon, 2008). These challenges can result in nurse perception of care processes for such patients as stressful, uncomfortable, unrewarding, and difficult (Zolnierek & Clingerman, 2012).…”

Present Status and Road Map to Achieve Inclusive and Holistic Care for Dementia in a Japanese Community: Analysis Using the Delphi Method

“…Although in this aged society patients with dementia are likely to have physical illness, it is often difficult for medical facilities to provide both psychiatric and physical treatments in the same place. It is particularly difficult because doctors and nurses in charge of physical illness are largely untrained in regard to dementia, or disorientation/delirium is often exacerbated in such patients in the setting of physical illness [39,40]. These issues should be treated as a priority issue to be solved, as has been addressed in the National Dementia Strategy of England [13].…”