Poster Presentation
Thursday, July 12, 2007
9:30 AM - 10:15 AM
Thursday, July 12, 2007
3:15 PM - 4:00 PM
Rehabilitation of Patients with Dementia: Cognitive Symptoms that Interfere with their Care
Katherine S. McGilton, RN, PhD1, Jennie Wells, MD, MS2, Aileen Davis, BScPT, MSc, PhD3, Elizabeth Rochon, BA, MSc, PhD4, Susan Calabrese, RN, BScN, MSc5, Gary Teare6, and Gary Naglie, MDCM1. (1) Research, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, (2) Department of Medicine, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada, (3) Department of Physical Therapy, Universiy of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, (4) Graduate Department of Speech-Language Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, (5) Faculty of Nursing, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada, (6) Quality Measurement and Analysis, Health Quality Council, Saskatoon, SK, Canada
| Learning Objective #1: identify patients’ cognitive symptoms that staff find problematic and the strategies used when patients exhibit these behaviors. |
| Learning Objective #2: identify best practices for providing rehabilitation care and may lead to better outcomes for patients’ with cognitive impairment in a rehabilitation setting. |
Health care professionals (HCPs) on geriatric rehabilitation units often find that delivering quality care to patients with cognitive impairment is challenging. The objective of this study was to identify patients’ cognitive symptoms that staff find problematic and the strategies used when patients exhibit these behaviors. One hundred and thirty-three HCP’s from 7 geriatric rehabilitation units in Ontario completed a self-administered survey. Results of this study indicate that HCPs perceive patients’ lack of insight or judgment, memory problems, and loss of ability to initiate activities as the three main symptoms that interfere with the staff ‘s ability to deliver rehabilitation. We will report findings on the frequencies of the behaviors that interfere with rehabilitation care and the different strategies used by health care professionals to compensate for the patient’s lost cognitive abilities. Results will identify best practices for providing rehabilitation care and may lead to better outcomes for patients’ with cognitive impairment in a rehabilitation setting.