Working in healthcare for 15 years I have had a lot of encounters and firsthand experience of directly and indirectly working with people that had/have dementia. One of the learning curves that I had to learn early on as an administrator in long-term care was when to believe someone with Alzheimer’s that voiced a concern, and how to distinguish during the investigation reality and facts versus their “reality”.
Any healthcare organization/agency that is responsible in some way of taking care of patients with dementia must do a diligent job of investigating whenever a person with the disease voices concern of any form of abuse/harassment/neglect/retaliation. I have noticed that healthcare professionals sometimes brush aside concerns voiced by a person with dementia, especially if the disease is progressed. Sometimes these professionals tend to get into a rut of thinking the person with the disease is making up the story or embellishing what is factual. As a family member, caregiver, and ex-administrator I have always pushed for every person that has the disease to be taken seriously, and to complete a thorough investigation as I would with any other person that did not have the disease.
Don’t get me wrong, there are many times that the complaint is not substantiated. However, the outcome of those unsubstantiated investigations led to discussion for improvement of care either by the healthcare workers, the spouse, family caregivers, etc. Caregiver burnout is very real and not discussed enough with families. Sometimes the caregivers that are close to the patients do not realize at times that their non-verbals have such an impact on the person that has the disease. The person may interpret the caregiver’s non-verbals as anger, impatience, frustration, and even neglectful towards them. The person with the disease may voice concern of that caregiver though may embellish the facts because in their mind their reasoning is not present. Now, if a healthcare professional overlooked their complaint and thought their concern was nothing to be discussed or investigated, then the professional has missed the opportunity to teach the caregiver about signs of burnout and being cognizant of non-verbals.
To believe or not to believe someone with dementia is something that us healthcare professionals should never be nonchalant about. Even if the disease is progressed, an investigation and discussion must still be completed. There are always learning opportunities in every situation.
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