CNA427 Reflective Practice: Mental Health, Wellbeing, and Dementia

This essay presents a critical reflection on clinical practice in mental health, focusing on the care and support provided to older adults, particularly those with dementia. It emphasizes the importance of mental health and well-being in older age, referencing statistics on neurological disorders and ...Read More

Running Head: CRITICAL REFLECTION 0
Critical Reflection on Practice
Mental Health wellbeing and Dementia
(Student Details: )
9/10/2018

Critical Reflection on Practice 1
Critical Reflection on Practice
This essay will assess my professional, clinical practice through identifying, how I assess and
deliver support and care in mental health areas. I will support this together with theoretical
and evidence-based practice and reflect on this and how it has developed my approach,
linking decision and best practice outcomes.
During my reflection of a clinical nurse in mental health practice, being a clinical officer, I
have to support and give best possible assistances to our patients and find out different ways
of effective functioning and cognitive health specific skills improvement.
According to the figures, 23% the global problem of sickness arises in older age of human
life (Prince et al., 2015). Hence, mental health and well-being are vital in older age than at
any other phase of human life. Neurological disorders among older aged people account for
6.6 percent of the complete ill health for this age and around percent of old adults aged 60
and over grieve from a mental illness (World Health Organization, 2017).
Being a Clinical Nurse, I can help those oldsters, which are suffering from mental health
issues such as withdrawal, anxiety, agitation, irritability, shakes, and headaches (Dewing and
Dijk, 2016). Out of them, a 67-year-aged Fijian female with late onset Dementia was my
patient. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the common cause of dementia but Lewy body
dementia, frontotemporal dementia, and vascular dementia, are also predominant (Brown et
al., 2015). Dementia is a disease, generally of a chronic nature, and having symptoms like
worsening memory, intellectuality, behaviour, and the capability to execute daily activities.
Although, the disease mostly affects oldsters yet it is not a usual part of getting old (World
Health Organization, 2017)
There are so many major social as well as financial problems attached to the straight costs of
medicinal, societal, and informal care allied with dementia. Furthermore, physical, emotional,
and financial burdens can cause excessive stress to families and other carers. Therefore, my
support was needed for Fijian as she was suffering from final stage dementia. As per the strict
suggestions of World Health Organization, it mandatory to formulate health workers and
civilizations to fulfil the required needs of old age populations.
Therefore, in our clinic, there were OT activity and common area where so many activities
based on socialisation and disease care were conducted. Still, to encourage Fijian to come out

Critical Reflection on Practice 2
of her room and join with OT activities to create healthy environment was a task for me. If
somehow, I would have managed to motivate and bring her out of that patient room, then her
prior tendency was to return to the room immediately after meal times. During her meals
time, she used to requiring full assistance for eating and drinking with worsening swallow.
After some time, her pain was too problematic as I remember she started complaining of pain
everywhere in the body. As later, she was suffering from continuous severe headaches with
increased anxiety, so I offered rest between and minimized her social time also gave her cold
press. I used to assist in her during daily activity of living like shower times, eating, and
movement from bed. Pain assessment in advanced dementia suggests that PRN including
Endone is to be given to treat several pains in this disease while knowing severe side effects
and behavioural change of the PRN.
Now that Fijian entered into Stage-VI of dementia, she is getting worse due to this disease
and medicinal effect, hence I will evaluate her response to prescribed PRN medication. I will
try to create healthy living environment that support her mental wellbeing. Whatever
medication will be given to her, ultimately it will affect her mood swings, personality, and
overall health. hence now cognitive health therapies and spiritual sessions can work well with
her. As per the health guide about Dementia, mental health wellness depends upon on
approaches of apply treatment. Hence, my future doings will be a reflection of my experience
with Fijian. I will
 Try to provide safekeeping and freedom to Fijian
 Try to socially support Fijian and her caregivers
 Try to schedule and get fund for mental health and social programs targeted at
helpless older groups those who live alone or rural area populations who suffer
through a chronic mental illness
 Try to organize programmes to prevent elder abuse
 Try to organize communal development programmes (World Health Organization,
2017).
Thus, my experience with Fijian concluding that respectable overall health and social
carefulness is very much important to promote older age people health, reduce burden of
disease in older people, and to manage chronic illnesses. Appropriate training to all clinical
officers to deal with health issues and disorders caused by ageing should be given (Johansson
et al., 2017). On the other hand, it is likewise essential to concentrate on the longstanding

Critical Reflection on Practice 3
care of oldsters suffering from psychological disorders, as well as to avail caregivers with
tutoring, training, and provision (Positive Psychology Program, 2018). According to an
estimate, thirty five million people with the disease dementia worldwide, fifty percent people
experience consistent pain. Despite that, pain assessment and treatment in these patients are
insufficient. A caring legislative environment based on universally acknowledged human
rights standards is necessary to make sure the uppermost quality of facilities to people having
mental illness and their caretakers (Prince et al., 2015). This case of dementia will provide a
lot of information about old adults caring and mental well-being facts. The results from the
research studies suggest that if critical reflection on practice sessions are implemented
effectively then mental-health nurses will report lesser levels of ‘professional burnout’
(Edwards et al., 2006). The long‐term profits of doing this critical reflection practice in
mental health nursing will help determining factors, which have great impact on reducing risk
of professional burnout in mental health nursing (Edwards et al., 2006). Mental health
wellness plays key role in living happy and independent life until death, thus to be fit
mentally several activities and lifestyle revolutions should be made and implemented (Safe
Medication, 2018).
References
Brown, R., Howard , R., Candy, B. and Sampson, E. (2015) Opioids for agitation in
dementia, 14 May, [Online], Available:
https://www.cochrane.org/CD009705/DEMENTIA_opioids-for-agitation-in-dementia [09
Sep 2018].
Dewing, J. and Dijk, S. (2016) 'What is the current state of care for older people with
dementia in general hospitals? A literature review', Dementia, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 106-124.
Edwards, D., Burnard, P., Hannigan, B., Cooper, L., Adams, J., Juggessur, T. and Coyle, D.
(2006) 'Clinical supervision and burnout: the influence of clinical supervision for community
mental health nurses', journal of clinical nursing, vol. 15, no. 8, pp. 1007-1015.
Johansson, L., Bjorklund, A., Sidenvall, B. and Christensson, L. (2017) 'Staff views on how
to improve mealtimes for elderly people with dementia living at home', Dementia, vol. 16,
no. 7, pp. 835-852.

Critical Reflection on Practice 4
kales, H.C., Gitlin, L.N. and Lyketsos, C.G. (2015) 'Assessment and management of
behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia', bmj, vol. 350, no. 7, p. 369.
McMillan, K. and Weyers, J. (2013), in How to Imrove your Critical Thinking and Reflective
Skills, Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
Positive Psychology Program (2018) 28 Mental Health Activities, Worksheets & Books for
Adults & Students, [Online], Available: https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/mental-
health-activities-worksheets-books/.
Prince, M.J., Wu, F., Guo, Y., Robledo, L.M.G., O'Donnell, M., Sullivan, R. and Yusuf, S.
(2015) 'The burden of disease in older people and implications for', The Lancet, vol. 385, no.
9967, Feb, pp. 549-562.
Safe Medication (2018) Using PRN or “As Needed” Medicines Safely, [Online], Available:
http://www.safemedication.com/safemed/PharmacistsJournal/Using-PRN-or-As-Needed-
Medicines-Safely [09 Sep 2018].
World Health Organization (2017) Mental health of older adults, 12 Dec, [Online],
Available: http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-of-older-adults
[09 Sep 2018].