Dementia Care Process: Identifying Gaps and Implementing Training

This report examines the current state of dementia care, identifying key gaps and limitations within the process. The analysis highlights the lack of adequate training and skill development among nursing professionals as a primary concern, leading to challenges in effectively addressing the needs of elderly patients with cognitive impairments. The report emphasizes the importance of educational and training sessions to equip nurses with the necessary skills and strategies for providing comprehensive dementia care. It explores the impact of insufficient training on patient outcomes, including difficulties in communication, understanding patient needs, and managing challenging behaviors. The report concludes by advocating for the implementation of training programs to improve the quality of care and address the identified gaps within the dementia care process, ultimately enhancing the well-being of patients. The author also reflects on their past learning experience, emphasizing the need for training and communication skills to provide the best care for patients.

Dementia care
Current process and identified gaps

Introducti
on
 Dementia is a chronic and progressive
syndrome(which is known as a collection of various
symptoms) that affects the cognitive ability of elderly
patients
 Consequently the patients become unable to process
their thoughts, loses their learning, calculating,
analyzing and thinking abilities (Moyer, 2014).
 Further, it also affects the emotional, mental and
physical health of the affected individuals.
 The primary aim of this paper is to identify the gaps
present in dementia care process and then
implement skill development and learning abilities of
nursing professionals to mitigate the gap (Seitz et al.,
2014).

Objectives
 The objectives of this assignment is to :
1. to identify the gaps in the dementia care for older
adults
2. Establishing lack of training and learning for
dementia care as the primary reason for lack of
nursing professionals.
3. Establishing training and educational session as the
sole intervention to mitigate the gap.
4. Understanding the implications of the skills and
interventions learned in the educational and
training sessions so that its effectiveness could be
assessed.

Gaps in
dementia
care
 Science daily (2017) article mentioned that lack of
nursing professionals for dementia care is the primary
reason for untreated dementia of 45% women in
Sweden.
 Lack of empathy and concern was the primary reason
due to which, patients were unable to share their
concern to the care professionals. (Ford, Ford &Ford ,
2013)
 Increase amount of burn out among the nursing
professionals increases due to lack of training. (Zeilig,
2014)

Gaps in
dementia
care
 Zeilig (2014) also mentioned that due to lack of
guidelines and training process, the nursing
professionals are unable to understand the strategies
using which effective care could be provided.
 Ford, Ford and Ford (2013) has also mentioned that
due to lack of training, nursing professionals
associated with dementia care are unable to
understand the need of patent.

Importanc
e of
training
and skill
developme
nt
 The educational and training sessions are important
for the holistic development of the nursing
professionals as with application of these, they would
be equipped with the skills and strategies to deal with
different type of patients and their needs (Chinkhata,
2014).
 Providing nursing professionals with a skill set or
training prior to deal complex nursing situations
would help them to overcome their weaknesses and
conduct their responsibilities properly (Elvish et al.,
2014).

Importanc
e of
training
and skill
developme
nt
 With proper training and skill development, it would
be easier to provide all the nursing professionals with
similar abilities so that they could provide effective
care to the patients (Elvish et al., 2014).
 Training and educational sessions would provide the
nursing professionals with the ability to communicate
with the patients who have become vulnerable due to
dementia associated symptoms (Moyer, 2014).

Focus of
the
assignmen
t
 As Chinkhata (2016) mentioned that majority of the
patients affected with dementia are unable to use the
care provisions and hence, it increased their burnouts
and pressure.
 Further, due to lack in training and communication
skills, nursing professionals were unable to
communicate with patients to understand their health
condition (Elvish et al., 2014).

Past
learning
experienc
e
 While working for the patient X (63) (pseudo name), I
faced several concerns related to her diet,
physiological, and psychological needs that
stigmatized me for several occasions.
 Patient’s aggression, mood swings, were new for to
handle and hence I became stigmatized.
 Hence, if I had all the training and communication
skills known, I would have been able to help the
patient with her critical mental health condition.

Achieveme
nt of
learning
 As per Elvish et al. (2014), nursing professionals are
the only care professionals that communicate with
the patient for their needs and requirements directly.,
hence equipping them with care training could help
the patient to achieve quality healthcare.
 Inclusion of such training and skill development
process for the nursing professionals could provide
the nursing professional with skills and abilities to
include the patient in the care process and fulfill their
psychological and pharmacological needs.

Conclusion
 As the primary aim of the project was to understand
the gaps and limitations present in the care process,
the paper was able to identify lack of training and
skills as the primary gap of the process.
 this paper established the above-mentioned reasons
as the primary gap of the dementia care process and
implemented training and educational sessions for
skill development of the nursing professionals

Reference
s
Chinkhata, M. M. (2016). Gender mainstreaming in nursing education: a study on the
professional socialisation processes of Malawian student male nurses during undergraduate
training (Doctoral dissertation).DOI: http://hdl.handle.net/10539/22584
Elvish, R., Burrow, S., Cawley, R., Harney, K., Graham, P., Pilling, M., ... & Keady, J. (2014).
‘Getting to Know Me’: the development and evaluation of a training programme for
enhancing skills in the care of people with dementia in general hospital settings. Aging &
mental health, 18(4), 481-488.
Ford, S., Ford, S., & Ford, S. (2013). Hospital audit reveals lack of basic dementia training.
Retrieved from https://www.nursingtimes.net/roles/older-people-nurses/hospital-audit-
reveals-lack-of-basic-dementia-training/5061057.article
Moyer, V. A. (2014). Screening for cognitive impairment in older adults: US Preventive Services
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ScienceDaily. (2017). Gap in health care for Alzheimer's disease patients who live alone.
Retrieved from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170614170224.htm\
Seitz, D. P., Gill, S. S., Gruneir, A., Austin, P. C., Anderson, G. M., Bell, C. M., & Rochon, P. A.
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Zeilig, H. (2014). Gaps and spaces: Representations of dementia in contemporary British
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