Dementia - an Issue in Mental Health Nursing Coursework - 1

Dementia - an Issue in Mental Health Nursing - Coursework Example It is imperative for mental health nurses to develop professional awareness of the dementia problem and its risks in older people, in order to understand the ways of addressing this problem, as well as the personal and medical needs of older people. This paper aims at investigating the issue of dementia in older people from the standpoint of a mental health nurse. The paper will discuss and critically evaluate the significance of the problem for older people. Prevalence of dementia in older people and its effects on the critical life functions will be discussed. The paper will analyze the challenges, which mental health nurses face while trying to deliver high-quality nursing care. Other aspects of mental health care will be discussed, including nursing paradigms and therapeutic approaches, the role and the boundaries of a mental health nurse in dementia care, and the role of effective planning and nurse-patient interactions in caring for older patients suffering from dementia. Legal and ethical factors of dementia care will be evaluated. This paper will expose the key problems related to mental health nursing and its role in dementia care. Practical recommendations for mental health nurses will be provided. Dementia is one of the most serious and complicated mental health problems with older people. More often than not, dementia exemplifies a serious challenge to mental health nursing. Dementia is challenging, because (a) the number of older people, including those with dementia, constantly grows, and (b) dementia requires that nurses develop complex approaches to care, in order to reduce its negative influence on other life functions. The World Health Organization believes that the growing proportion of older people to the total population is a global phenomenon, and increasing age turns chronic health conditions into the issue of the main health importance (Anonymous 2009a). Among the most common health problems in older people, mental health disorders and cognitive impairments feature prominently (Anonymous 2009). Dementia and depression as the two most widely spread forms of chronic mental conditions later in life (Anonymous 2009a). Needless to say, the higher the proportion of olde r people to the general population, the more acute the problem of dementia grows. In its 2009 report, WHO estimated that almost 36 million older people worldwide would be diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in 2010 (Sorrell 2010). This number is likely to double every 20 years (Sorrell 2010). These statistical results have far-reaching implications for health care systems’ operation and functioning. These implications are equally relevant to mental health nurses. Nurses need skills and knowledge to anticipate the development of cognitive changes in older people and guarantee high-quality care, which reduces social stigmatization of patients with dementia and improves their life and wellbeing.