Alzheimer’s disease

Read the scenario: You are assigned to care for Mr Andrasziuk, 85, who has Alzheimer’s disease. He often wanders from room to room and tries to open outside doors. He frequently displays increased agitation, confusion, and restlessness, especially in the evening. Most of the time, Mr Andrasziuk is unable to feed himself and he is often incontinent.

He keeps repeating, “Help me, help me”, all day long. Answer these questions about how you would care for a person who has dementia: ▪ How do you feel about caring for a person with these behaviours? o Frightened? o Angry? o Impatient? ▪ How do you deal with your feelings so that you can give care to the person? o Identify your feelings.

o Describe how you deal with or manage those feelings. ▪ At what stage of Alzheimer’s disease is Mr. Andrasziuk? o What signs and symptoms support your answer?

▪ Why would it be ineffective to remind Mr. Andrasziuk of the date and time during your shift? o Relate your answer to your knowledge of Alzheimer’s disease. ▪ Why is reminding a client of the date and time a good technique with some confused people and not with others? o Relate your answer to your knowledge of Alzheimer’s disease.

▪ Why does Mr. Andrasziuk’s behaviour become more agitated, confused, and restless toward evening? o What is this called? ▪ What methods could you use to make sure Mr. Andrasziuk receives the care needed to maintain good personal hygiene? o How could you get him to cooperate or participate in his care?

▪ What parts of Mr. Andrasziuk’s behaviour would be most difficult for you to tolerate? o Explain why.

▪ What would you do if you found yourself becoming irritated and angry with Mr. Andrasziuk’s behaviour? o Describe several options. Read the questions carefully and take careful note of the verbs used e.g., feel, deal with, identify, describe, relate, why, what, how, explain; these are key words in guiding your answers.