Nursing care for people with delirium superimposed on dementia

Pryor, Claire and Clarke, Amanda (2017) Nursing care for people with delirium superimposed on dementia. Nursing Older People, 29 (3). pp. 18-21. ISSN 1472-0795

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.7748/nop.2017.e887

Abstract

Nursing and healthcare is changing in response to an ageing population. There is a renewed need for holistic nursing to provide clinically competent, appropriate and timely care for patients who may present with inextricably linked mental and physical health requirements.

This article explores the dichotomy in healthcare provision for ‘physical’ and ‘mental’ health, and the unique role nurses have when caring for people with delirium superimposed on dementia (DSD). Delirium is prevalent in older people and recognised as ‘acute brain failure’. As an acute change in cognition, it presents a unique challenge when occurring in a person with dementia and poses a significant risk of mortality. In this article, dementia is contrasted with delirium and subtypes of delirium presentation are discussed. Nurses can recognise DSD through history gathering, implementation of appropriate care and effective communication with families and the multidisciplinary team. A simple mnemonic called PINCH ME (Pain, INfection, Constipation, deHydration, Medication, Environment) can help identify potential underlying causes of DSD and considerations for care planning. The mnemonic can easily be adapted to different clinical settings and a fictitious scenario is presented to show its application in practice.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: assessment, delirium, delirium superimposed on dementia, dementia, mental health, older people
Subjects: B700 Nursing
L500 Social Work
Department: Faculties > Health and Life Sciences > Nursing, Midwifery and Health
Depositing User: Becky Skoyles
Date Deposited: 26 Apr 2017 13:51
Last Modified: 01 Aug 2021 04:35
URI: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/30550

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