Dementia Life Care Specialist Program
Changing THE CULTURE in Dementia Care Today
This is an example of what is covered in this course. Content can be customized to a group's needs. Contact Randy L. Griffin for more information.
Course Description
There are over 5½ million people diagnosed with some form of dementia today. The most common cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. Many educational programs offer only the medical overview of the progression of this illness, and lack the practical knowledge that is necessary to understand how this illness affects the person living with the disease.
Participants will learn effective strategies that will address how the loss of memory, language, movement and sight affects the way a person responds to the world around them. Caregivers will also learn how their approaches, rate of speech, use of language, movement and behavior can change the way a person with Alzheimer’s disease responds to them. Caregivers will gain a new understanding about what will work and why.
Objectives
- Describe how dementia affects the ability to think, feel and respond to activities of daily living.
- Identify 5 reasons that people with dementia act out and learn clear-cut communication strategies that decrease anxiety and agitation.
- Apply simple techniques to prevent escalations when personal care is needed.
- Prevent injuries when aggressive behaviors begin.
- Discover the meaning behind behaviors.
- Learn how non-pharmacological interventions bring positive results.
- Develop personal history sheets to reflect the whole person.
- Understand how programs help relieve boredom and anxiety.
- Identify ways that discovery stations and meaningful engagements can reduce the need for antipsychotic medication.
- Learn how to support caregivers in this specialized field of dementia caregiving to succeed with models of care that support the staff and resident.
Course Content:
- Models of Care
- Changes in Health Care Culture
- Evolution of Dementia Design Models
- Understanding Human Behavior
- Dementia Overview
- Definition
- Types of Dementia
- Reversible Dementias
- Non-Reversible Dementias
- Diseases Associated with Dementia
- Stages of Dementia and Related Behavioral Disturbances
- Dementia Detection
- Diagnosis: When, Where and How?
- Is It Depression or Dementia?
- Drug Toxicity
- Delerium
- Early, Middle and Late Phases of Dementia
- Challenging Behaviors
- Verbal Aggression
- Threats
- Physical Aggression
- Depression
- Eating
- Toileting
- Mouth Care
- Bathing
- Dressing
- Sexually Inappropriate Behaviors
- Sleep Disturbances
- Pain
- Inside Their World
- How This Disease Affects Speech, Sound, Sight, Language and Memory
- The 3 A's of Alzheimer’s Disease
- Challenging Behaviors: Challenging for Whom?
- Outside Their World
- Developing a Sense of Trust
- The E.S.P. Model of Care
- Environmental Stressors
- Language for Connecting Socially and Emotionally
- Physical Comfort and Dignity
- Simple Steps for Bringing the Knowledge and Heart Together
- The Caregiver’s Role in the Environment
- The “20 Second Rule”
- What to Say and What Not to Say
- Validation Therapy
- Intentionality
- Dementia Labeling
- Learning How to Connect
- Pharmacologic Therapies and Their Effects
- Non-Pharmacological Responses to Anxiety, Agitation, Discomfort and Pain
- Discovery Stations: Art, Music, Paro, Bird Tales
- Introduction to Therapeutic Touch
- Essential Foundations of Care
- Bringing Joy to Each Moment
- Trusting Touch Movements
- Models of Care for Tomorrow
Course Details
- This is a full day workshop.
- This is appropriate to staff from all departments.