Dementia, delirium and depression in the elderly: A review

Running head: NURSING
Bachelors of nursing
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction- Aged care nurses have the responsibility of covering a plethora of duties
such as, providing medications, supervising older adults, assisting with activities of daily
living, and liaising with the doctors.
Discussion- Dementia, delirium and depression are serious health ailments that are
typically prevalent among the elderly and often remain undetected due to the similarity
between the major signs and symptoms. Dementia generally comprises of several conditions
that bring about a decline in the functions of the brain and associated cognitive faculties such
as, orientation to time, attention, memory, language (McCusker et al., 2014). In contrast,
delirium encompasses sudden worsening of the mental functioning that are triggered due to
drug intoxication or injuries. Hence, nurses must be able to concentrate on the lived
experiences of dementia patients, and also assess patients who are at a risk of delirium such
as, dehydration, environment change, hypoxia or trauma. On the other hand, depression
among older adults is often under-diagnosed due to its association with physical symptoms
and sleep disturbances (O'Sullivan, Inouye & Meagher, 2014). Using assessment tools for
diagnosing depression and applying person centred care will eliminate other causes.
Conclusion- To conclude, nurses should be competent enough to detect the risk
factors, indications, and diagnosis of the three conditions, to facilitate easy treatment and
management.

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References
McCusker, J., Cole, M. G., Voyer, P., Monette, J., Champoux, N., Ciampi, A., ... & Belzile,
E. (2014). Six‐month outcomes of co‐occurring delirium, depression, and dementia in
long‐term care. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 62(12), 2296-2302.
O'Sullivan, R., Inouye, S. K., & Meagher, D. (2014). Delirium and depression: inter-
relationship and clinical overlap in elderly people. The Lancet Psychiatry, 1(4), 303-
311.