Factors Associated With Function-Focused Care Among Hospitalized Older Adults Living With Dementia

Abstract

This article reports a study that was designed to describe the incidence of pain among older hospitalized patients with dementia and to evaluate the factors that influence pain among these individuals. It was hypothesized that function, behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia, delirium, pain treatment, and patient exposure to care interventions would be associated with pain. Patients who performed more functional activities had less delirium. They also experienced higher quality-of-care interactions and were less likely to have pain. The findings from this study support the relationship between function, delirium, and quality-of-care interactions and pain. It suggests that it may be useful to encourage patients with dementia to engage in functional and physical activity to prevent or manage pain. This study serves as a reminder to avoid neutral or negative care interactions among patients with dementia as a strategy to mediate delirium and pain.

‘Our Voices Aren't Being Heard’: A qualitative descriptive study of nurses' perceptions of interprofessional collaboration in care supporting older people's functioning during a hospital stay

“…Accordingly, optimising functioning for this patient population is a high priority in many jurisdictions such as the United States [2], Canada [3][4][5], Australia [6], the European Union [7,8], South America [9] and Israel [10]. With this priority in mind, a body of international literature has emphasised the importance of care-oriented towards improving physical and cognitive functional outcomes for older people during a hospital stay [11][12][13][14][15].…”

“…Because care supporting hospitalised older people's functioning is complex, it requires the services of a range of healthcare professionals working in concert [16][17][18]. Nurses, the largest group of professionals in Canada [19], can play a central role in supporting older people's functioning during a hospital stay [15,20]. Some scholars propose that nurses should ideally work closely with other professionals so that patients benefit from the expertise of numerous professionals working collaboratively to quickly mitigate risk factors of functional decline [21][22][23].…”