What is?
What is dementia?
A general term that describes the progressive loss of brain functions, including cognitive and social functions
What is FTD?
Frontotemporal Dementia
FTD is a term covering a group of disorders affecting the frontal and temporal regions of the brain. These areas of the brain are primarily associated with personality, behaviour, and speech.
When damage is happening but the interviewer sees no cognitive decline, and no evidence of memory problems, what stage are they at?
Stage 1: No cognitive decline
Skills of a good dementia care worker include (name 2/5)
Observational skills • Problem solving • Dementia capable communication • Conflict resolution • Setting priorities
The person may be disoriented to who they are, the time of day, and the place they are in; impairment of judgement, some memory loss, difficulty in solving problems, problems with communication and even inability to do their own grooming
What is confusion?
Your client is struggling with knowing what order to put on their clothes. what part of the brain is being affected?
What is Right parietal?
T/F Alzheimers is irreversible.
True
What are the 2 forms of Alzheimers?
Sporadic and familial
Describe stage 2 (very mild cognitive decline)
Stage 2: Very mild cognitive decline • May misplace familiar objects • May forget familiar names • Experiences difficulty in thinking of certain words • Manages well at work and in social situations • No obvious problem with memory when being interviewed • Person expresses concern regarding forgetfulness
Who is the GEM team
geriatric evaluation and management (GEM) team
Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)
The person has some difficulty with memory, thinking, judgement or language. It is more than would be from normal aging but is not severe enough to be considered dementia.
The limbic system lies deep inside the brain within the frontal and temporal lobes, is also known as the emotional brain. What does it control?
Emotional responses such as anger, fear, anxiety, pleasure, sorrow and sexual feelings are generated in the limbic system but are interpreted in the frontal lobe. The limbic system connects the frontal and temporal lobes enabling them to connect behaviour with memories. It also controls basic needs such as eating and sleeping
What are 3 symptoms of dementia?
Symptoms include loss of memory, judgment, and reasoning, changes in mood, behaviour, and personality, and difficulty with language, problem solving, and the ability to think
The second most common cause of dementia. This type of dementia is the result of a single or multiple strokes
What is Vascular dementia?
When a person starts to lose or misplace objects of value, and forgets important appointments or names, what stage of depletion are they in?
Stage 3 - mild cognitive decline
This type of assessment includes mood as well as effectiveness in coping with stress
Emotional assessment
When disorientation occurs suddenly
What is Delirium?
The brain, like all other organs of the body, is made up of millions of cells. The function of brain cells is (3)
Providing nutrients like food and oxygen • Removing waste products • Carrying messages that allow us to interact with our environment. These brain cells are called neurons
Each client with dementia has the following basic rights(4):
Individuality, independence, freedom and dignity
LBD is a progressive disease that is associated with brain changes called “Lewy Bodies” what are these "Lewy Bodies"?
These “Lewy Bodies” consist of protein deposits found in deteriorating nerve cells.
LBD is believed to account for an estimated 5– 15% of all dementias.
What is stage 4?
Moderate cognitive decline
• Beginning to have trouble living independently
• Requires daily support–appropriate for adult day support, or home care
• Problems becoming more obvious
• Decreased awareness of current and recent events • Cannot remember aspects of own personal history • Difficulty concentrating
• Problems with cooking, handling finances, etc., on own
• Has problems doing complex or difficult tasks
• Loses ability to show appropriate emotions
• Withdraws from challenging situations
• Begins to talk less
• Denial is dominant defense mechanism
• Depression may be present
What is involved in a physical assessment?
A physical assessment focuses on oral health, nutrition, ability to chew and swallow, sleep and rest patterns, bowel and bladder function, mobility, gait, balance, and body weight.
Includes smell, vision, hearing, taste and touch, pain recognition, and the ability to distinguish between right and left
What is Perception?
Major functions of the brain include (4):
• Receiving information
• Figuring out what the information means
• Sorting the information
• Storing, deciding, or initiating an appropriate action based on the information
Risk factors can be reduced by
adopting a healthy lifestyle that includes exercising regularly, eating well, avoiding smoking, and reducing stress
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia. It currently represents what percentage of all dementias?
64%
Give specific examples of Stage 5: Moderately severe cognitive decline
• Person needs assistance in order to survive - appropriate for special care unit
• Can no longer remember such things as addresses or telephone numbers of many years standing or names of close family members such as grandchildren
• May be disoriented to date, day of week, season, or place
• May need encouragement to bathe; assistance is frequently required
• Driving becomes an issue as driving skills decline
• An educated person may have difficulty counting back from 40 by 4’s or from 20 by 2’s.
• Clings to familiar people and places; hates to be alone
• Hates change
• Decreased initiative
• Sensitivity to noise
• Decreased communication ability
What is a diagnostic test?
Diagnostic tests such as detailed blood work and brain scans are useful in determining a diagnosis of dementia often by ensuring that no other illness or disease process is taking place.
When it comes to disease, Risk factors are known as?
Characteristics or exposures that appear to have some relationship to the development of a disease.
Generally, brain functions are sorted into these five categories
1. Cognition: 2. Perception: 3. Emotion: 4. Behaviour: 5. Socialization:
Dementia can be caused by 6 known factors
1. Neurological disorders
2. Vascular disorders
3. Inherited disorders (Huntingtons)
4. Infections (AIDS)
5. Structural problems with the brain (tumors)
6. Toxic substances (alcohol)
an inherited, genetic brain disorder that causes cells to die in specific parts of the brain. The gene has been identified and if a child is born to a parent with this disease that child has a 50% chance of inheriting the disease.
Huntington disease(HD)
affecting 1/10,000 people
What is stage 7?
Stage 7: Very severe cognitive decline
This is the stage where there are changes in the person’s appearance.
Why is tracking a client's ADL and IADL important for a CCA?
Activities of Daily Living (ADL’s)
Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL)
Physical skills involve all the actions it takes to look after ourselves physically. We need to be able to bathe, use the toilet, dress and groom ourselves appropriately and do those activities that enable us to be independent and socially acceptable.
Activities of daily living make up a large part of day-to-day living. Assessing this area is where the CCA has the greatest impact. Since they will spend hours with clients involved in their most intimate care, they can see changes as they occur.
What are the FOCUSED Communication Strategies
F Face to Face
O Orientation
C Continuity
U Unsticking
S Structure
E Exchange
D Direct
Temporal Lobes and Hippocampus
They are the sites of the complex processes of memory, judgement, learning and hearing. The hippocampus processes memories while the temporal lobes are involved in learning new things and short term memory