Alzheimer’s is a brain disease, which provokes dementia and memory loss. It causes eating and muscular problems with loss of social links.
Alzheimer’s - eating problems
The main problem of the Alzheimer's disease is the loss of memory. Other symptoms can also appear like:
- Eating problems: patients forget how to eat so there is a risk of malnutrition, they lose interest in eating and they have a poor appetite (depression, communication problems)
-Weight loss problem: patients forget and do not recognize food or drink so they usually are dehydrated and tired
-Muscular problems: they have difficulties in walking, digesting (constipation), using utensils or raising a glass, opening their mouths in order to put food in it or even to chew because they don't have physical activities
-Brain problems: patients lose their ability to concentrate; they are distracted while eating
-Sensory problems: losing the ability to gauge food temperature, leading to burns, developing a reduced feeling of thirst, not being aware of their thirst
Insufficient nutrition and hydration can lead to deterioration of overall health.
Tips for patients
Tips to improve the patient's’ environment
Zoé and Margot, 2TSA
Caregivers - aide-soignants
Dementia – démence
Disease – maladie
Tip - conseil
To chew – mâcher
Thirst – soif
To overload – surcharger
To swallow – avaler
To ensure – s'assurer de
To entince – inciter
Lit – allumé
Why should we encourage hospital employees and caregivers to apply those tips?
How can we inform and teach those tips to caregivers?
Development
How to inform and teach those tips to caregivers?
To inform caregivers, we can create a book with recommendations and tips in order to improve their mealtime with patients. It's not complicated to establish those tips, it has to be part of the daily routine.
We can also educate the hospital employees to the good gestures to have with the patients.