For people with dementia, calm, familiarity and fixed routines make a big difference. A temporary nurse must therefore connect quickly with the team's approach and carefully pick up on what is changing.
People with dementia often cannot put their symptoms into words well. Pain, fear or an infection sometimes show only as restlessness or changed behaviour. That makes the nursing role in psychogeriatric care special: you look beyond the behaviour itself and search for the cause. At the same time predictability matters, so a new face must be introduced with care.
Psychogeriatric care calls for patience, powers of observation and a calm attitude. Small changes in eating, sleeping, moving or mood can be a signal. The nurse brings those signals together, discusses them with the team and the doctor and records them, so that colleagues on other shifts can build on them. Dealing with relatives also needs attention: they see their loved one change and need explanation and involvement.
When I step in temporarily on a ward for people with dementia, I connect as much as possible with what already works:
A warm, personal approach helps build trust, even if I am only on the ward for a limited period.
Especially in psychogeriatric care, it is important that everyone works the same way. A resident who is approached one way one day and differently the next becomes restless more quickly. Alongside the care, I am therefore happy to look at the team's agreements and how they are recorded. Read more under psychogeriatric care, in the article the nurse in psychogeriatric care and about recording team agreements.
I help with this through nursing cover and consistent working agreements. Want to know what that means for your organisation? Schedule an introduction.
Briefly record for each resident what brings calm and what causes restlessness. For every colleague, permanent or temporary, that is worth its weight in gold.
Yes, psychogeriatric care is one of my areas of experience, both in residential settings and in combination with other care settings.
By working calmly, keeping to the fixed routines, asking colleagues about the approach for each resident and introducing myself again and again where that helps.
Community care is part of my experience. Whether an assignment in the home situation fits, we agree together in advance.
I am happy to drop by for a coffee to discuss your question.
Schedule an introduction ContactSchedule a meeting. I am happy to visit and discuss what I can do for your organisation.
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