The Gerontologist, Vol 31, Issue 1 128-131, Copyright © 1991 by The Gerontological Society of America

ARTICLES

An assessment and care planning strategy for nursing home residents with dementia

PD Sloane and LJ Mathew
Department of Family Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 27599.

Dementia is extremely common among nursing home patients, and it takes many forms. Accurate assessment by staff is crucial in providing appropriate care to these patients. Equally important is the ability to establish care priorities. Current staging models are so general, however, that their usefulness is limited. Thus, this paper proposes a strategy that, using basic assessment data, categorizes dementia residents according to four key determinants of care needs: activities of daily living status, behavioral problems, communication abilities, and physical transition.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K. L. Foley, S. Sudha, P. D. Sloane, and D. T. Gold Staff Perceptions of Successful management of severe behavioral problems in dementia special care units Dementia, February 1, 2003; 2(1): 105 - 124. [Abstract] [PDF]