The development of a care system for the elderly with dementia in Sisaket Province

Abstract

Elderly dementia care in Sisaket Province involves screening for dementia for the elderly at the community level at the Tambon Health Promotion Hospital (RPS) and the community hospitals (ARD). Some 9.21% with dementia do not have access to treatment because there are no joint practice guidelines for these patients. Elderly dementia care is not yet included in elderly health promotion activities, which only involves annual disease screenings with no referral for treatment. Disease screening information isn’t being used in care plans, causing those with dementia to become more dependent.

            This research was conducted between October 2017 and September 2018 involving consenting participants: 46 nurses, 30 dementia elderly and 30 caregivers. Daily routine assessments were based on a preliminary brain test, Thai version, with practice specified in the manual for nursing care for the elderly with dementia. Research results showed that daily activity scores significantly increased statistically,   p-value of .01. Of the 70.94% screened for dementia, most were treated using care guidelines (98.7%), with full access to treatment. Duration of hospitalization was reduced to 6.9 days. Nurses gained knowledge of providing care more effectively at post intervention with statistical significance, p-value of .01. Also, 92.4% of caregivers expressed satisfaction with elderly patient treatment. Further research should focus on increasing skills in the community to address dementia with reduced dependency of the elderly.