Person Centred Care
I sat in on the Dementia Training Person Centred Care Topic and found
many gaps that are being made in caring for people regardless to whether
they have dementia or not.
I believe in many cases is it still the care the care staff want to give
rather than what the person really needs to receive. So how do you
do this?
Well it comes down to getting a full history, and remember a history is
His Story (or Her’s) at it may be.
Everyone has a history. Throughout your own life there are influences that
affect the way you see life and how you behave. If you have read my
book “The Art of Caregiving”, you will know what I am talking
about. I have related it to you as a caregiver (including Registered & Enrolled
Nurses as we are all caregivers) but the same principles apply to caring
for a person.
The person’s history needs to be ascertained to provide care. Therefor
the use of a tick box care plan has limited use. Yes it will tell you whether
they like a shower in the morning or night, but it does not tell you why
they may be resistant to a shower at all. This will come from the
history. Maybe they always had a bath and a shower not in their knowledge
bank if they have dementia. Maybe they don’t like you seeing
them naked because they had to stand naked in front of someone they didn’t
trust or they got cold?
Neither will a tick box tell you why they like to sleep with their clothes
on and not get into night attire. Maybe they had to be on high alert
and leave their how anytime of the day or night to go to a bomb shelter,
maybe they were afraid they had to hide or maybe they were fearful because
a peeping tom would look in their window. All of these experience influence
how they behave.
Now these are only two examples I have used but everyone in your care has
a history that needs to be collected so you can give the person the care
they deserve. Care has to be based around the person not your daily
schedule. Sometimes a complete history may not be able to be obtained
because the person may not have every told anyone. Kept their life
trauma’s to themselves.
But I can absolutely guarantee that these traumas will play out in later
life especially in a person with dementia. You see the brain only knows
the truth. The body’s senses are always alert. It knows
what it see’s, hear’s, feel’s, taste’s and touches. An
experience may have been buried for a long time but you can bet your bottom
dollar it will surface at some time.
So understanding Person Centred Care is the key to having happy residents
and families. It also helps you as a caregiver to enjoy your
job too as there are less complaints. Happy residents/ clients
+ happy staff = great environment and don’t underestimate
the positive effect it has on the bottom line.
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