A recent study took a look at how caregivers of dementia patients feel when caring for and transferring their patients. The study, which was done at Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, investigates how nurses’ aides at three dementia care facilities in western Sweden feel about person transfers in the workplace and what they do to reduce the physical strain. Although the resident’s weight was hardly a factor in physical strain, Cristina Wångblad, one of the researchers behind the study recently published in the scientific journal Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, found communication problems and misunderstandings to be much more leading causes.
‘The symptoms of dementia are very individual and can vary from one day to the next, and sometimes even from one moment to the next. This makes person transfers in dementia care very demanding for the personnel’, says physiotherapist Cristina Wångblad.
It’s noted that individual-specific knowledge about patients can be useful as well. Caregivers can give, for example, specific vocal queues and pitches, and gestures that are specific to and recognized well by each patient.
‘A resident who is unable to read signals from the surroundings or who forgets what he or she is supposed to do reacts with anxiety, confusion and resistance. The personnel can avoid communication problems by explaining things with different words and by using body language, and thereby make person transfers much easier’, says Synneve Dahlin Ivanoff, Professor of Occupational Therapy at the Sahlgrenska Academy.
This information can be very useful when having to care for someone suffering from dementia, and especially multiple persons. And the best part? Home Instead Senior Care will match your loved one with the perfect CAREGiver who is trained in dementia and Alzheimer’s care. We put our CAREGivers through an extremely in-depth dementia care training program, and do our best to match our clients with CAREGivers that will complement each other, and a CAREGiver that will take the best possible care.
Home Instead Senior Care will provide outstanding caregivers to help your loved one with personal care, incidental travel, companionship, medication, reminders, light housekeeping, and even meal preparation. To learn more, call 248-203-2273 or visit www.homeinstead.com. Home Instead Senior Care is the world’s trusted source of in-home non-commercial personal care and companionship for seniors. Each franchise is independently owned and operated. And remember, to us, it’s personal.
SOURCE: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/163967.php
