The medical practice of the nurse is recognized as one of the hardest and most serious tasks that the beginning nurses might encounter. Thus, it is worth paying attention to all the details in order to help patients and provide the highest level of the healthcare possible. During my practice in terms of the nurse assistance in the Australian health care center I faced different psychological and physiological complications while dealing with patients, suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Thus, when working as a nurse with such patients I was asked to look after elderly patients as much as possible to reveal the new symptoms and provide them with the prescribed symptomatic therapy.
Among different mental diseases Alzheimer’s disease is recognized as one of the hardest and most serious. Currently it is known that this particular disease has in its basis the permanent gradual destruction of the cerebral tissues and cells, which factually deal with the ideation and memory processes. Symptoms of the tissue destruction reveal themselves rather slowly; however, they inescapably progress all the time. At the early stages there is vivid derangement of memory that is seen, for example, in inability even to recall recent events or learnt information. As the disease develops, there might appear such symptoms as confusion, irritation and soreness, aggression and changes in mood. Ability to talk is also vividly destructed and the patient could hardly understand the information. Usually this illness lasts from five till ten years. As the time passes, functions of mentation, understanding, and memory are gradually becoming damaged. Personality of the patient decomposes. Patient does not recognize relatives and proxies, could not handle oneself and stop moving at all.
One of the patients that I was in charge of was 68 years old, female, suffered from the Alzheimer’s disease and different concomitant illnesses, such as ulcer and coronary heart disease. Among the symptoms there were hallucinations, delusions, impossibility to recognize relatives, problems with moving, loss of ability to think and talk, disorientation, apathy and depression.
Despite the fact that there is no established treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, still some particular medications could improve mental abilities of the patients, suffering from this disease. At the beginning of the illness the treatment by means of medications provides possibility for the ill people to continue their everyday life and stay independent from the physicians for quite a long period of time and stay at home. There are also different medications that help deal with some particular symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, including depression, behavioral changes, and aggression.
There is no particular treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, but planning and medical, social support could help facilitate the load onto the patient and her family members. Moderate physical load, good nutrition, activities and social intercommunication are very important in this case. Calm structuralized surrounding could also help patient, suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, continue activities as long as it could be possible.
There were different schemes of medications’ prescriptions for her. All of them were directed at gradual increase of dose in order to have …