older couple

PATIENT SAFETY AND PATIENTS WITH ALZHEIMERS AND DEMENTIA

Direct Causes of Harm:

  • Inadequate assessment and treatment
  • The rapid pace and technological focus of modern hospital care makes good clinical assessment and treatment more difficult in older people with dementia. 
  • Often unable to communicate their needs
  • Cognitive impairment creates barriers to safety
  • Doctors and nurses spend less time with confused than with non- confused patients
  • Frequently, underlying serious illness in these patients is not recognized  

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3758672/#bibr13-0141076813476497