How to communicate effectively with people with Alzheimer’s disease?

  Alzheimer’s disease (AD) refers to dementia, senile dementia, and brain degeneration that occurs in old age. It is a persistent neurological disorder that is characterized by significant memory loss or loss, slow reaction time, reduced or lost ability to perform daily activities, slurred speech, slurred pronunciation, disorganized language, emotional dysregulation, childish behavior, and in severe cases, urinary and fecal incontinence. Incontinence. In clinical care for patients with dementia, we tend to focus more on their basic physiological needs, such as the amount of intake of each meal, the neatness and warmth of their clothes, assistance with urination and defecation, and assistance with their life care problems. For patients with communication difficulties, how do we use effective communication means to understand the patient’s heart needs, comfort the patient and relieve physical or heart pain, and help the patient create the best heart condition.  I. Collection of basic information about the patient before communication 1. Understand the basic information of the patient and collect multi-level health information such as physical, psychological, spiritual and socio-cultural information of the patient. For example: name, age, number of children, previous work, whether the patient has special hobbies, whether there are other diseases, whether the patient is emotionally stable recently, taking several drugs, etc. The degree of understanding of the patient’s basic information directly affects the progress of communication and communication effect.  We divide dementia into three stages: ① The first stage is the amnesia stage, in which the patient is particularly forgetful, and then gradually appears calculation ability, cognitive ability and disorientation, and can take care of himself in daily life. (2) The second stage is the period of mental confusion, where dementia continues to worsen, with loss of recognition, aphasia, loss of use, thinking and emotion disorders, personality and character changes, and obvious behavioral abnormalities, requiring the help of others in daily life. We need gentle body language to treat patients in this stage, and we need to understand patients’ physical and emotional needs through eye contact and observation of patients’ body movements.  Second, the communication mode of communication Language communication 1, the tone of language to patients with dementia should be mild, for patients with hearing problems, the volume is appropriately amplified, the speed of speech should be slow; if treating a patient with dementia in an unfamiliar environment, performance is more irritable, fearful, we should be gentle, calm tone of voice more increase the patient is a sense of trust. Therefore, we should pay attention to the speed and clarity of speech in the communication process.  If the sentence is too long, the patient will often not understand or misunderstand the meaning of the statement, thus causing miscommunication.  If the patient cannot answer the question in a short time, we should patiently encourage the patient to try to express his or her thoughts. If the patient really cannot answer, we should not force him or her to continue the conversation by changing the topic. For patients with pre-dementia, we encourage them to express their physical and mental feelings. For patients with stage 2 or 3 dementia, we can use direct questions, such as: Would you like to drink water now? Patients with stage II dementia can usually answer yes or no. If a patient with stage III dementia does not want to drink water, he or she will shake his or her head or turn away and refuse.  Body language communication 1, eye contact, eyes are the windows of the soul, in the process of communication with dementia patients, give the greatest respect to the patient, sit face to face when talking, eye contact can make the conversation more cordial, in addition, through eye contact, nursing staff can closely observe the patient’s non-verbal expression, but also to show respect for the patient.  2, body movement language, do not shake your body when communicating with patients, talk is can gently pull each other’s hands, help patients pay attention to listen, but use body language to put me in proportion, do not confuse the information. Body language is most important for the elderly with stage 3 dementia. Every smile, every handshake and appropriate touch we give to the patient can make the patient feel attention and support and eliminate his or her loneliness. Regularly helping patients to turn over and bathe can make them feel comfortable. Pay attention to the feelings of the elderly with dementia during the communication process, remember the behavior and emotional performance of the elderly, and give timely responses and necessary help.  With the rapid development of aging in China, the number of dementia patients is gradually increasing. It is a long-term and arduous work to do a good job of dementia elderly care, and geriatric clinical nursing workers, while mastering the necessary nursing skills, mastering more communication skills is an effective means to improve the quality of life of dementia patients.