Taking care of patients/care home residents who are suffering from Dementia is a challenge. Such residents often face a great deal of difficulty communicating, remembering things, and most importantly, taking care of themselves.
Care workers face the biggest challenge when it comes to understanding dementia behaviour of the residents. Do you face the same issue in your care home?
Over here we discuss the tips to understand behaviours associated with Dementia and how to address them
1) Cause of the dementia behaviours
The first step to understand and cope with behavioural changes is to question why the patient has been behaving in a particular way. It’s important to note that people suffering from dementia can have poor judgement skills. Therefore, some of their behaviour (which might seem strange to others) might be their way of dealing with problems.
For instance, a patient who wants to disrobe might be feeling hot or need to use the bathroom. It’s important to understand what’s causing the patient to behave in an unusual manner, rather than stressing about their erratic behaviour.
2) When does the patient exhibit dementia behaviours?
Understanding the patterns or triggers of the resident’s behaviour can help you effectively cope with the problems. Keep a track of the situations when the resident starts to behave abnormally. Some of the key triggers to check include:
Your behaviour – Was it because of something you did?
Certain tasks –He/she might not like it when you help them complete a specific task such as bathing or clipping nails.
Difficult times –He/she might be uncomfortable with certain weather conditions or seasons.
3) Dealing with dementia behaviours
It can be stressing to deal with unpredictable and erratic behaviour. Remember, the key to dealing with unusual behaviour of dementia residents is to understand their concerns.
As a care provider, you must not contradict or correct them if they say something wrong. Instead, agree with them and make them feel comfortable.
Improve care for dementia residents in your care home using eMAR
Unlike conventional MAR charts, eMAR saves medication administration time – making it possible for care workers to devote more time to understand the residents.
With eMAR, you also lower the risk of medication errors in your care home. Know more about eMAR at https://www.electronicmar.co.uk.
