Supporting older people with acute confusion: the contribution of mental health nurses
Tina Wills Senior fellow, RCN Gerontological Nursing Programme, East Devon PCG
Jan Dewing Senior fellow (Dementia Care) RCN Gerontological Nursing Programme.
Tina Wills and Jan Dewing explore some of the issues for nurses working in acute general settings and offer suggestions for improving care to older people as they experience delirium.
Contemporary services have become organised in ways that reduce the opportunity for the sharing of skills and expertise between nurses of different disciplines (UKCC 2000). Since the publicity of the Dignity on the Ward campaign (Help the Aged 1999) in The Observer newspaper and the resulting commission of an independent enquiry into the general low standards of care for older people on acute wards (HAS 2000 1998), there has been a focus on improving care for older people in hospital settings. In particular it is suggested that mental health nurses working with older people have knowledge and expertise from which general nurses and their patients can benefit. Specifically mental health nurses can:
develop an appreciation in staff of the mental health needs of older people in acute care settings
facilitate the development of knowledge and skills for risk screening and cognitive assessment
support care planning for challenging behaviours, both directly and indirectly
enable nurses to reflect on the ways in which they manage challenging behaviours while ensuring the older person’s human rights are protected and person centred care is offered.
