This Project can be based on dementia and discuss how these conditions can be addresses to ensure a quality if life for an older person so that they can participate and be considered ‘active living’ within their society.

Contents. 1. Introduction 2. What is the condition? what are the physical and psychological changes that occur for the older person with this condition? 3. Exploring the persons needs in relation to the condition. 4. The Role of the carer and the multidisciplinary team in assisting the person with the condition, the practices implemented and the care settings that are available. 5. The Current approaches towards developing quality services for people with the condition. 6. Conclusion 7. Bibliography 8. Appendix

Introduction

This project is about dementia specifically in cases relating it to older people.
It is the attention of the author to discuss the issues that a person with this condition from both a psychological and physical standpoint. The needs of this person will also be outlined in a physical, social, emotional, spiritual and intellectual, financial and environmental basis.
The Role of the carer and the role of the multi-disciplinery team and their approach to meet a person’s needs. The author will be discussing the care settings available for people with the condition. The research conducted in this assignment will be form a range of sources such as the appropriate books, websites, leaflets and work placements.

What is the condition? What are the physical and psychological changes that occur for the older person with the condition?

Well firstly its important to know the definition of dementia. Dementia is a chronic or persistent disorder of the mental processes caused by brain disease or injury and marked by memory disorders, personality changes, and impaired reasoning. Dementia comes in different forms and stages.
Statistics show that there are 44,000 people in Ireland who have a form of dementia and it is expected that there will be 104,000 people in Ireland with dementia unless there is a medical breakthrough. In 2009 alone there was an estimated 4,000 new cases of dementia in Ireland.
Global figures show that in 2009, there was an estimated 30 million people with a form of dementia this number is expected to increase to 100 million by 2050. Its estimated that there will be over 4 million new cases of dementia every year globally that’s a new case every 7 seconds.
When we reach an age in live our body goes through physical changes most older adults do experience normal, age-related changes that may affect their lifestyle. Common age-related physical changes include wrinkles, grey hair, hearing impairment, weakening vision, and the increasing probability of arthritis, hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis. These changes can slow a person down.
People with dementia can also suffer changes. There are four A’s in dementia which are all changes physical and mental to somebody with the condition. The four A’s according to Carter and Goldschmidt are: * Amnesia – This is memory loss. Every individual is different but as the disease progresses and more and more becomes diseased long and short term memory loss may become affected * Aphasia – This is a difficulty in communicating. This usual begins in the middle stage of dementia, with aphasia there are two different types. Expressive aphasia which is a difficulty using word or there is receptive aphasia which is a difficulty understanding words. * Agnosia - This refers to the difficultly recognising sensory input such as the eyes, nose, taste buds and their sense of touch. * And Apraxia – Apraxia is a difficulty coordinating the steps needed to complete a task simple everyday activities may become difficult for a person with dementia.
It is important of getting a person with dementia assessed at least every three months. This is because of as the condition gets worse they may need changes in their care its important to remember the twelve adl’s at this time.
As their needs may be different then the needs of an older person its important to formulate a care plan and for the team of staff to have open communication with person themselves, their family and the multi-disciplinary team. This could involve an OT which may assess the persons living area and see if the person may need extra help with moving around, getting up etc.. A dietian may come in and assess the patient diet to make up a diet plan to make sure the person continues eating healthy. A doctor is needed to assess the patients’ health and to make out any prescriptions needs.
I am familiar with a person that has dementia for the sake of confidently we’ll call this person patient A. Patient A suffers from stage two dementia, the patients short term memory has been very impaired and ability to manage day to day life has been affected. As the patient may feel like abandoning hobbies it’s important to let the patient enjoy them for now. Patients A needs are meet in different ways.
Patients A enjoys going to art classes every Thursday and is part of an active retirement group. It is important to the patient that they still attend these things. The patient is left reminders in her phone the morning of these meetings and classes to remind her. The care staff will organise a way to and from them to lessen the confusion for the patient. This are all parts of the patient’s social needs.
Patients A and their family have been informed about MABS to sort out any financial needs they may have.
Patient A play Sudoku and completes the newspaper crosswords every day to help support their intellectual needs.
The physical needs of patient A are meet by following the twelve ADL’S, and an appendix is filled out by their doctor every three months at their assessments to note any changes that may have happened.
Patient A is a very outgoing person. It is very important to her that she keeps up good commutation with her family and friends. Patient A is valued and treated with the dignity and respect that everyone deserves.

It is important that we use biestaks principles of treating the person as an individual should be covered because that ensures the persons identity, personality and self are protected. By addressing all of Patient A’s needs in an individual manner this links to quality care and is important in relation to promoting health and well-being of a person.

What is the role of the carer and the multidisciplinary team in assisting the person with dementia, what practices need to be implemented and what care settings are available to offer support.

The Role of a carer is important as they are the links between the person, the family members and multidisciplinary team in developing and then following through with the personal care plans. They also keep regular updates as it is a life document and it amends with clients their changing needs.
It is important to have a client centered approach at all times. Also following the biestak princinples.
Here are some important qualities that are necessary for a successful aged care worker.

* Responsible - The caregiver must at all costs be responsible and those who are not responsible enough would not be able to excel in the job. They could put the health of the elderly person at risk if, for example, they forget to give them medicines on time and in the correct dosage. The aged person needs to feel secure in the knowledge that they will be responsibly looked after.

* Supportive - Once you get old, you would always love to have enough support from those near you and hence an aged care professional should make sure that he/she is capable of providing enough support to the patient. If you are not able to offer the support that your patients are looking out for, then you would never be successful at your job.

* Caring attitude - Like little children, aged people also need to be cared for and if an aged care worker is caring and compassionate, it would go a long way towards keeping them happy. Aged people always feel happy when they are comfortable with the caregiver’s attitude. This is the mark of a successful aged care worker.

* Respectful towards Patients - An aged care worker should always be respectful towards his patient and must always follow a "give respect and take respect" policy. Aged people love to be respected and it can add to their positive energy and sense of dignity. Being respectful towards the patients can also help in improving your professional reputation.

* Sensitive - An aged caregiver must be sensitive to understand the special needs of the person under his or her care. They would be having their own sorrows and personal problems which they would like to share with others. Be sensitive enough to lend a sympathetic ear to their issues; this would provide them much relief. Also do make sure that you don't hurt their feelings in any way.

* Patient - Patience is a virtue while working as an aged care worker. The elderly may not be able to do things as quickly as youngsters, or as per ones expectation. So be patient enough while taking care of them and manage things in a better way.

* Understanding - Understanding the patient is another influential factor that can help in making your job a lot easier. Try to find out what is going on in their minds, and how they react to various situations. If an aged care worker is able to understand the patient in a good way, both the caregiver and the patient will be sure to have a comfortable time ahead.

* Good people-skills - Good people- skills are very important for any healthcare professional and in aged care, relating to other people assumes even more importance. An aged care worker is expected to possess good people- skills and interact with old and sick people in a comfortable manner. This also makes your job much easier and more interesting resulting in an overall positive career experience.

* Flexibility - If the caregiver is very set and rigid in their ways, then their patient is in for quite some trouble. On the other hand if the caregiver is flexible and accommodating then he or she would be able to deal with different types of patients with greater ease. If the caregiver does not have a flexible and adaptive nature, then he should try to develop these qualities so that he can have a successful aged care career in the long run.

* Encouraging - Honest encouragement can work wonders in daily life and the same applies in the case of aged care. If the caregiver encourages the old patient for every simple achievement, then it would be a huge boost to their morale and it would indeed help in improving their physical and mental health. Encouragement helps the patients to perform much beyond their physical capabilities with great confidence.
It is also important for a care worker to create a nice atmosphere and treat the person with respect and dignity at all times.
A multidisciplinary team (MDT) is composed of members from different healthcare professions with specialised skills and expertise. The members collaborate together to make treatment recommendations that facilitate quality patient care. It is important between all parts of the multidisciplinary team are communicating and that all parts have mutual respect for each other, to have a good multidisciplinary team there must not be any career snobbish and personality clashes must not happen and if they do things must be kept professional at all times.
A person that has dementia may have a multidisciplinary team consisting of * Care assistants * Public health nurse * Social worker * Occupational therapist * Physiotherapist * Speech and language therapist * These professionals can provide advice, support and counselling. * Other support services may include support groups, home help, day care or hospital facilities, respite care in a community hospital or a nursing home.
Practices that need to be implemented are as follows regular meetings and reviews, adapting to the person’s changing needs, open, honest and transparent communications are important. Professional attitudes and confidentiality are important. Data protection, following the legal framework and policies and procedures to ensure good practice is upheld and promoted. Good health and safety. A welcoming atmosphere and inclusion of family. The genuine attitude of ‘do no harm’ with necessary complaints procedures In place to ensure no breaches happen.
There are many different care settings such as * Nursing homes such as Balltinglass hospital * Respite such as the respite in Balltinglass hospital * Home care such as home instead * Community care
There are organisations out there that offer support and advice for the older person an example of this is Alzheimer’s Ireland

State the current approaches towards developing quality services for people with dementia.

There are many articles based on the best practice. An example of this would be action plan for dementia (Dr. Eamon o’ Shea & Siobhan O Reilly NUI Galway) elements for the new Strategy arising from the research:

* greater emphasis on primary prevention and on ways of avoiding or delaying the illness particularly through reducing heart disease and stroke * enhanced public awareness about dementia * early diagnosis through improving access to memory clinics and enhanced multidisciplinary training and education in dementia for primary care workers, hospital staff and people working in long-stay settings * case management models of integrated care * expansion of dedicated and flexible community-based services, for example, day care services and family support programmes, for people with dementia and their carers * development of new and expanded psychosocial approaches to complement existing medical and neurological models of service delivery in the community and in residential care units * development of small-scale, appropriately designed, residential care units * greater awareness, ownership and leadership of dementia in the acute care sector * further expansion and availability of palliative care services for people dying of and with a dementia * development of appropriate services for people with early-onset dementia, including people with Down syndrome * enhanced information systems on the number of people with dementia, severity of the disease, placement patterns and quality of life.

Conclusions
This project covered the condition of dementia and how to ensure active living for an individual despite having this condition. The author discussed issues that the person may have from both a physical and psychological stand point relating to dementia.
The needs of the person were outlined across their holistic care needs such as physical, social, emotional, spiritual and intellectual, environmental and financial basis. The role of the carer and the multi-disciplinary approach to meet a person’s needs were discussed
Care setting available to support a person were discusses.
Personal learning was also achieved from completing this assignment.

* http://hubpages.com/education/Personal-Qualities-Required-for-an-Aged-Care-Worker * https://www.nuigalway.ie/about-us/news-and-events/news-archive/2012/january2012/new-report-on-dementia-in-ireland-launched-by-minister-for-health.html *