Research Proposal: Dementia Care in Psychiatric Hospital Settings

This report presents a research proposal focusing on the impact of patient-centered care in improving the conditions of dementia patients within psychiatric hospital settings. The study highlights the limitations of current medication-focused approaches and emphasizes the need for individualized care plans to address cognitive impairments, memory loss, and behavioral issues. The research aims to explore how nursing professionals can enhance patient well-being through communication skills training and tailored interventions. A qualitative research methodology, involving interviews with nursing officials, is proposed to gather insights into challenges faced and effective care strategies. The expected outcome is to demonstrate the positive impact of patient-centered care in improving the physical and mental health of dementia patients, leading to reduced deterioration and improved quality of life. The report also references existing literature on dementia care, emphasizing the importance of evolving nursing practices to meet individual patient needs.

Running head: DEMENTIA CARE UNDER PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL CARE SETTINGS
Dementia Care under Psychiatric Hospital Care Settings
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1DEMENTIA CARE UNDER PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL CARE SETTINGS
Abstract
The following intends to propose a research to highlight the impact of patient centered care as a
vital requirement in improving patient conditions in dementia. Dementia care in hospitals has
been provided with medication therapy. The following proposal will focus on care approach as a
treatment plan to improve the conditions of dementia. No evidence based research has been
found on patient centered care as a treatment approach in dementia.

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Introduction
Dementia is characterized by multiple cognitive impairments, loss of mental abilities like
loss of memory, reasoning and appropriate speech. The morbidities of dementia are mostly
prevalent among the older people and shows a progressive deterioration with age and time
(LoGiudice& Watson, 2014). Older patients require time to time physical assistance and care to
improve their day to day activities. This can be achieved through quality care provided by
nursing officials.
Background
Dementia patients undergo hospitalizations during extreme behavioral inabilities.
Nursing care and medication treatment allow for improvement of patient condition. Early
diagnosis of the affected individuals can provide a better approach to develop a personal and
nursing care plan to support the dementia patients and improve their condition.These patients
undergo hospitalizations to get proper care and treatment to improve their cognitive and
behavioral inabilities. However, pharmacological treatments and deficient nursing care have
resulted in negative consequences and cause deterioration of the patient conditions (LoGiudice&
Watson, 2014).
Research Gap
The morbid conditions of dementia patients show a worsening trend due to lack of
adequate patient care. Previous researches show that medication therapy has been performed on
dementia patients in hospital settings. Research indicates that the pharmacologic treatments that
are administered in hospitals provide short term relief to dementia patients, however it yields a
negative impact on the patient mental condition. Medication therapy has been shown to sooth the

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mental aggression in some patients as provided by research evidences (Dewing& Dijk,2016).
The older people with dementia suffer from inabilities of communication, cognition and
behavior. No research evidence has been found on patient care approach affecting the mental
conditions in dementia. Individual patient attention is required in dementia cases as differing
mental and behavioral symptoms occur in different patients. The following research proposal
would help to understand the significance and impact of patient centered care as fundamental
care approach in dementia besides temporary medication therapy.
Research rationale
The rationale behind the proposed research is to emphasize the importance of patient
centered quality care intreating dementia patients. Dementia patients suffer from communication
inabilities, therefore nursing officials need to be provided with training on communication skills
development. This training would help to ameliorate the patient behavioral inabilities. Time to
time attention by nurses would help to overcome the problem of memory loss in these patients.
Therefore, this research highlights the patient centered care as achosen approach to improve the
physical and mental wellbeing of the dementia patients.
Research question
The research questions can be addressed as follows:
How patient centered care as an individualistic approach would improve the physical and mental
wellbeing of people suffering from dementia in hospital settings from a nursingperspective?
Population Nursing professionals in hospital care of
dementia patients
Intervention Unstructured general care approach

4DEMENTIA CARE UNDER PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL CARE SETTINGS
Comparison Generalized nursing approach to the patients
Outcome Improved physical and mental wellbeing of
dementia patients
Research methodology
A qualitative method of research would be performed based on a questionnaire approach.
Qualitative research provides detailed experiences of the nurses with the patients. A broader
view of feelings, responses and attitudes of the participating subjects can be obtained with
clarity. Interview sessions with the nursing officials based on a face to face interactions would be
arranged.Interviews are efficient methods of qualitative research as it helps to address more
questions and yield a high response rate. Detailed perceptions and opinions are better understood
through interview interactions. Primary care nurses involved in dementia patient care would be
taken as the participating subjects.Open ended questionnaires would be arranged for gaining
deeper insights into the attitudes and feelings of the participating nurses.
Interview questions
Following questions would be addressed during interviews.
1. What challenges do the nurses face in managing dementia patients?
2. How do you respond to a dementia patient when he feels hungry?
3. What measures do you take to manage the behavioral outbursts in dementia patients?
Interview settings
Interview sessions would be arranged within the hospital premises taking consideration
of the convenience of the nurses. Ethical considerations would be maintained while carrying out

5DEMENTIA CARE UNDER PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL CARE SETTINGS
qualitative research. The participating subjects would agree to participate in interviews under no
compulsion.Well documented consent formswould be submitted by the nurses under no forceful
circumstances.Confidentiality is prime in ethics consideration. Concern would be taken not to
disclose the personal details of participating nurses according to confidentiality
policies.Ambiguity or personal assumption would not be entertained during the research data
analysis.Analysis should be focused on scientific reasoning only.
Research analysis
According to the research performed through interviews with the nursing officials, the
deficient knowledge of adequate nursing care has shown an increased deterioration in dementia
patients who undergo hospitalizations. The nurses reported that the many cases of dementia
patients are complicated and require better understanding of their condition. Providing education
and training on understanding approaches for individual patients would reduce the negative
impacts. Therefore, the proposed research would enable to determine the positive impact of
patient centered care approach in treating the dementia patients and improving their conditions.
These patients require assistance in performing regular activities; therefore nurses should be
given communication trainings in order to better understand the conditions of these patients
(Elvish et al., 2014). Training would help to increase the positive interactions between patient
and nurses. Dementia causes loss of memory and interpretation problems.Hospital care settings
involving pharmacologic treatments with general care giving do not show an improving scenario
in dementia patients. The nurses need to be provided education on approaching every individual
based on the patient condition. Therefore, it is expected that training on communication skills
would improve the nursing care for dementia patients. Enhancing communication skills can
improve the competencies of the nursing care; the nurses need to be trained to understand and

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address every requirement of the dementia patients (Eggenberger, Heimerl & Bennett 2013).This
would build a sound patient-nurse relation to better improve the condition.
Results and discussion
Dementia patients improve better through quality care provided by the nursing officials.
The behavioral attributes and cognitive symptoms continue to evolve with differing patients and
time of diagnosis (Jones & Miesen, 2014). This necessitates that the nursing care should evolve
with experiences to meet the individual needs of the patients. The dementia patients have
difficulty to communicate and interpret, therefore providing nursing professionals with short
training sessions on communication skills would improve the condition. This would allow the
nurses to approach the patients with dignity and respect and treat them as individuals rather than
illness (Manthorpe & Samsi, 2016). This would positively impact the mental conditions of the
patients, thereby reducing the rates of dementia deteriorations after hospitalizations.

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References
Dewing, J., & Dijk, S. (2016). What is the current state of care for older people with dementia in
general hospitals? A literature review. Dementia, 15(1), 106-124.
Eggenberger, E., Heimerl, K., & Bennett, M. I. (2013). Communication skills training in
dementia care: a systematic review of effectiveness, training content, and didactic
methods in different care settings. International Psychogeriatrics, 25(3), 345-358.
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.
Jones, G. M., & Miesen, B. M. (2014). Care-Giving in Dementia: Volume 1: Research and
Applications. Routledge.
Keenan, T. D., Goldacre, R., & Goldacre, M. J. (2014). Associations between age-related
macular degeneration, Alzheimer disease, and dementia: record linkage study of hospital
admissions. JAMA ophthalmology, 132(1), 63-68.
LoGiudice, D., & Watson, R. (2014). Dementia in older people: an update. Internal medicine
journal, 44(11), 1066-1073.
Manthorpe, J., & Samsi, K. (2016). Person-centered dementia care: current
perspectives. Clinical interventions in aging, 11, 1733.

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