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Nursing care for people with delirium superimposed on dementia.

Pryor, Claire

Authors

Profile image of Claire Pryor

Dr Claire Pryor C.A.Pryor@salford.ac.uk
Professor of Adult Social Care Nursing



Abstract

Nursing and healthcare is changing in response to an ageing population. There is a renewed need for holistic nursing to provide clinically competent, appropriate and timely care for patients who may present with inextricably linked mental and physical health requirements.

This article explores the dichotomy in healthcare provision for ‘physical’ and ‘mental’ health, and the unique role nurses have when caring for people with delirium superimposed on dementia (DSD). Delirium is prevalent in older people and recognised as ‘acute brain failure’. As an acute change in cognition, it presents a unique challenge when occurring in a person with dementia and poses a significant risk of mortality. In this article, dementia is contrasted with delirium and subtypes of delirium presentation are discussed. Nurses can recognise DSD through history gathering, implementation of appropriate care and effective communication with families and the multidisciplinary team. A simple mnemonic called PINCH ME (Pain, INfection, Constipation, deHydration, Medication, Environment) can help identify potential underlying causes of DSD and considerations for care planning. The mnemonic can easily be adapted to different clinical settings and a fictitious scenario is presented to show its application in practice.

Citation

Pryor, C. (2017). Nursing care for people with delirium superimposed on dementia. Nursing Older People, 29(3), 18-21. https://doi.org/10.7748/nop.2017.e887

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Mar 6, 2017
Publication Date Mar 31, 2017
Deposit Date Nov 25, 2024
Journal Nursing older people
Print ISSN 1472-0795
Publisher RCN Publishing
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 29
Issue 3
Pages 18-21
DOI https://doi.org/10.7748/nop.2017.e887
PMID 28361642