Dementia Nursing Care Plan and Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Dementia Nursing Care Plan and Analysis - Essay Example Also, the evaluation methods for each assessment have been set. The plan has been prepared based on the review of relevant literature on dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and practices for the provision of care. Bill has displayed symptoms of Dementia of Alzheimer’s Type (DAT). Early features of DAT include impaired memory, difficulties in problem solving, preoccupation with long past events, decreased spontaneity, impaired speed and accuracy of response. Individuals try to avoid unfamiliar activities, and disorders of perception and language may appear. During late stages of Alzheimer’s disease, physical and cognitive effects are marked and disorders in gait, paresis and paralysis of extremities, seizures, peripheral neuropathy, extrapyramidal signs, and urinary incontinence may be visible. Often, the patient is no longer ambulatory, and is mute, bedridden and is in decorticate posture. Sometimes myoclonus occurs in some individuals. Progression of Alzheimer’s disease is slow and could render the patient to a state of complete helplessness in eight to ten years. A distinct possibility is affective disturbances. The most effective tools to diagnose Alzheimer’s di sease are a good family history, physical examination, and laboratory and radiographic tests for ruling out other causes of dementia (First & Tasman, 2004). According to Access Economics (2006), over 200,000 Australians were suffering from dementia in 2005, which was about 1 percent of the population. Alzheimer’s disease, caused by abnormal changes in brain tissue known as ‘plaques and tangles,’ has been attributed to be the most common cause of dementia, accounting for 50-60 percent of all cases. The number of Australians with dementia in 2050 has been projected to 730,000, about 2.8 percent of the population, and a four fold fold increase from 2000 levels. In 2005, there were 52,000 new dementia cases, and the number has