Communication Challenges and End of Life Care in People with Dementia Friday May 8 th , 2009 Dr. Max Watson Lecturer Palliative Medicine University of Lecturer Palliative Medicine University of Ulster Ulster Honorary Consultant in Palliative Medicine Honorary Consultant in Palliative Medicine Northern Ireland Hospice, Belfast Northern Ireland Hospice, Belfast & Princess Alice Hospice, Esher & Princess Alice Hospice, Esher Clinical adviser Hospice friendly Hospitals Clinical adviser Hospice friendly Hospitals programme, Dublin programme, Dublin
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Communication Challenges and End of Life Care in People with Dementia
Communication Challenges and End of Life Care in People with Dementia. Friday May 8 th , 2009 Dr. Max Watson Lecturer Palliative Medicine University of Ulster Honorary Consultant in Palliative Medicine Northern Ireland Hospice, Belfast & Princess Alice Hospice, Esher - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Communication Challenges and End of Life Care in People with Dementia
Friday May 8th, 2009
Dr. Max WatsonLecturer Palliative Medicine University of UlsterLecturer Palliative Medicine University of Ulster
Honorary Consultant in Palliative MedicineHonorary Consultant in Palliative MedicineNorthern Ireland Hospice, BelfastNorthern Ireland Hospice, Belfast& Princess Alice Hospice, Esher& Princess Alice Hospice, Esher
Assumption 2 “Person Centred Care and Palliative Care approach are similar”
‘Dementia care should incorporate a palliative care approach from the time of diagnosis until death. The aim should be to support the quality of life of people with dementia and to enable them to die with dignity and in the place of their choosing, while also supporting carers during their bereavement’
(NICE, 2006)
Assumption 2 “Person Centred Care and Palliative Care approach are similar”
Person-centered care refers to a care
philosophy in which a positive
relationship is established that respects
the person’s life history and preferences,
honors identity, engages in meaningful
activity, and encourages an overall sense
of well-being.(Fazio, 2008) Kitwood 1997
•Loss of cognition/communication makes all care giving complex
•Each person’s dementia is unique.
Assumption 3
Assumption 4
• The communication needs and challenges faced by patients, carers and professional staff change widely over the course of the disease
Assumption 6 You don’t have to speak to communicate
,
Assumption 6 You don’t have to speak to communicate
Verbal
, Non-verbal– Facial expression
– Eye contact
– Body language
– Gesture
– Paralinguistics
• e.g. - Intonation, Vocal
quality, Timbre,
Loudness, Pitch,
Rhythm
– Words•
Assumption 7 End of Life Care
• Most people with dementia die in nursing homes (Mitchell et al 2005)
• Quality of care and quality of life when nearing death for patients with dementia are often poor (Kayser Jones 2002)
• Too little or too much is often done to patients with dementia in environments that inhibit optimal care– Too little privacy/ repositioning/ staffing– Too much antibiotic use and nasogastric feeding tubes
despite evidence that feeding tubes neither prolong life nor reduce aspiration in this group (Gillick, 2004)
Assumption 8 How you understand dementia determines approach to communication
Neuropsychiatric model • Commonest Model in West• Key professionals old age psychiatrists, • Assumes patient has little awareness or control• Patients are victims, “sufferers”• Assessment and treatment focus on cognitive and behavioural
deficits through reliance on drug treatments though largely ineffective• Carers largely ignored despite research
evidence that interventions reduce carer
stress and social breakdown (Zarit 1989) • Psychiatric “block” for Palliative care
Assumption 8 How you understand dementia determines approach to communication
• Neurological Condition• Treated by neurologists and therapists, OT, PT, SLT• Patient coping with impairments• Working to achieve wellbeing• Family involved in therapeutic alliance to overcome
impairments• Easier transition to end of life care
Assumption 8 How you understand dementia determines approach to communication
Normal Ageing
Historical and non western model • Manifestation of wear and tear• “Mind failure” like heart or lung failure• Despite changes in behaviour still integral part of family• Valued older person• Personhood retained• BUT..Risk of some needs not
subtle losses in vocabulary, reading & writing difficulties word finding comprehending abstract language (e.g., slang)
difficulties on the telephone difficulties verbalizing ideas feelings of being outpaced or keeping up with
conversation repetition of stories
Strategies in Early Stages
Learn the limits of persons memory and attention Span Use simple and direct language Repeat messages frequently Allow patient to reminisce and express feelings Allow time for processing Encourage “talking it out”
KEY SKILL IS LISTENING
Late Stages (Severe to Profound Impairment)
• Severely diminished naming
• Exhibits more paraphasias (word and sound
substitution), echolalia (repetition of other’s speech), palilalia (rep. of own speech)
• Poor comprehension
• Use of jargon and rambling speech, incoherence
• Decreased eye contact
• Diminished output or may be meaningless or bizarre; may become mute
• Is mummy in pain?
Communication Skills“People with dementia are a part of us not apart from us”
• Approach from the front
• Be calm and supportive
• Focus on the feelings, not the facts
• Pay attention to tone of voice
• Address the person by the name he or she prefers
• Speak slowly, use short, simple words
• Ask one question at a time
• Be patient, flexible and understanding
• Learn who the person is
Language in Stages of Dementia
Stage /Aspect ofLanguage
Form/ Syntax Phonology
ContentSemantics
Use Pragmatics
Early Intact Affected Affected
Middle Intact Markedly Affected Markedly Affected
Late Often Intact Bizarre,meaningless
Often unable
Improving Comprehension -
• Form
Simplify syntax; speak slower than normal, with pauses between ideas and for replies
• Multiple forms of communication (e.g. – auditory, visual, tactile) – provide object or picture
• Limit the number of conversational partner.
• Use accepting, friendly tone.
Content
• Talk about the here and now
• Simplify vocabulary
• Use proper nouns
• Restate what was not understood –change words if necessary.
Caregiver Stress and Burden Relatedto Communication Problems
Communication problems:
- perceived as primary problem by caregivers in coping with dementia
- increase risk of early institutionalization
- may be reduced if education of caregivers is adequate (re: nature of communication) and if respite support is available
Challenges of trends in dementia care
OLD:
Therapeutic Activities Model of Care• What services do we have to provide?
NEW:
Individualized Care• “Who is this Person?”
More pressure on carers and staff/ or useful positive language shift??
Behavior in “old”
language– Agitation
– Rummaging or “Shopping”
– Wandering
– Egress or Elopement
– Refusing Personal Care
– Repetitive Crying Out
New language for
behavior– Energetic/Assertive
– Seeking
– Exploring
– Assertive/Focused/Showing Initiative
– Cautious
– Assertive
End of life Care
End of life Care
Dying With Dementia orDying From Dementia Today
• Not recognised as a terminal illness
• Significantly more likely to have: arterial blood gases and other blood tests ;NG tubes; catheters
• 1/3 less likely to be referred to Palliative Care
Cox, S., & Cook, A. (2002). Caring for People with Dementia at the End of Life. In J. Hockey & D. Clark. (Eds.), Ending Life in Institutional Care. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
•From the complications arising from end-stage dementia •From another illness whilst in the early stages of dementia, e.g. cancer, cardiovascular disease•From a mix of mental and physical problems, where dementia may not be the main cause of death but it’s symptoms exacerbate co morbid conditions
Hospitalised patients with dementia
More likely to: • Stay in hospital• Have bed moves around the hospital• Develop infections• Receive active interventions
Communication challenges in providing palliative care for patients with dementia
- Symptom management- Prognostication- Decision making - Advance care plan- Caregiver stress- Cross institution information transfer –
• Mood - agitated, withdrawn• Vocalising - moaning, screaming• Facial - grimacing, frowning• Body language - tense, rocking,
splinting• Behaviour – wandering• Pain has strong social
interpretation• More studies with patients with
dementia are needed.
“Patients need accompanying on that final journey”
“The last part of life may have an importance out of all proportion to its length”
Cicely Saunders
Agenda
Communication is key…
Words - To a partner with dementia by Ferma McLean
I reach out with words but find you are no longer there to touch; you have retreated to that remote and personal place, from which I am excluded.
I summon up recollections of shared delights, toss them in desperation at your indifference, bright and futile as fireflies holding a lamp to the night.
It would be wise now to desist, not to batter your private fortress with my words, yet they continue
and you leave the room so abruptly, so angrily, that my imploratory words become reproachful echoes,sounding across the chasm of my loss.
Ferma McLean (2003) If I’d Known, Narellan: New South Wales.