Nursing Care Plan : Alzheimer's Disease - Nursing Diagnosis and Interventions : Disturbed Thought Processes
Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disease that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills, and eventually even the ability to carry out the simplest tasks. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia among older people. Dementia ranges in severity from the mildest stage, when it is just beginning to affect a person’s functioning, to the most severe stage, when the person must depend completely on others for basic activities of daily living.
Alzheimer’s disease is named after Dr. Alois Alzheimer. In 1906, Dr. Alzheimer noticed changes in the brain tissue of a woman who had died of an unusual mental illness. Her symptoms included memory loss, language problems, and unpredictable behavior. After she died, he examined her brain and found many abnormal clumps (now called amyloid plaques) and tangled bundles of fibers (now called neurofibrillary tangles). Plaques and tangles in the brain are two of the main features of Alzheimer’s disease. The third is the loss of connections between nerve cells (neurons) in the brain.
Scientists don’t yet fully understand what causes Alzheimer’s disease, but it has become increasingly clear that it develops because of a complex series of events that take place in the brain over a long period of time. It is likely that the causes include some mix of genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors. Because people differ in their genetic make-up and lifestyle, the importance of any one of these factors in increasing or decreasing the risk of developing Alzheimer’s may differ from person to person.
Memory problems are typically one of the first warning signs of cognitive loss, possibly due to the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Some people with memory problems have a condition called amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI). People with this condition have more memory problems than normal for people their age, but their symptoms are not as severe as those seen in people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Disturbed Thought Processes
related to :
- Memory Loss
- Irreversible neuro degeneration
- Deprivation lie
- Psychological Conflict
Defining Characteristics ("evidenced by")
[Delusional thinking (false ideas)]
[Inability to concentrate]
Hypervigilance
[Altered attention span].distractibility
Inaccurate interpretation of the environment
[Impaired ability to make decisions, problem-solve, reason, abstract or conceptualize, calculate]
[Inappropriate social behavior (reflecting inaccurate thinking)]
Inappropriate non-reality-based thinking
Intervention- Nursing Diagnosis Disturbed Thought Processes - NCP Alzheimer's Disease
1. Assess the level of cognitive disorders such as changes orientasiterhadap people, places and times, range, attention, thinking skills.
Rational : Provide the basis for the evaluation / comparison that will come, and influencing the choice of intervention.
2. Talk with the people closest to the usual behavior change / length of the existing problems.
Rational : Noise, crowds, the crowds are usually the excessive sensory neurons and can increase interference.
3. Maintain a nice quiet neighborhood.
Rational : Cause concern, especially in people with perceptual disorders.
4. Face-to-face when talking with patients. Call patient by name.
Rational : The name is a form of self-identity and lead to recognition of reality and the individual.
5. Use a rather low voice and spoke slowly in patients.
Rational: Increasing the possibility of understanding.
