By Because Alzheimer’s patients with serious cognitive impairments have difficulty communicating, it’s challenging for nurses and other healthcare professionals to understand what they’re trying to say. Here’s how you can manage conversations with dementia patients.
- Be supportive and patient. Alzheimer’s patients lose their train of thought and have trouble coming up with the right words. It’s essential to be patient with them, and to let them know you’re listening and that you’re trying to understand.
- Offer reassurance. Reassure them that it’s okay when they’re having trouble getting their point across.
- Don’t criticize or correct. Alzheimer’s patients often make seemingly strange mistakes with language, like inventing neologisms for a familiar object. Being critical or correcting them isn’t particularly helpful. Instead, listen and try to find the meaning behind what they’re saying.
- Don’t argue with them. Many patients with advanced Alzheimer’s suffer personality changes, becoming irritable and easily agitated. Getting into an argument with them could heighten their agitation.
- If they can’t find a word, try guessing the right one. Alzheimer’s disease puts patients at a loss for words sometimes, as they find they cannot remember. If they’re trying to find the rght word, you can help by putting forth, a reasonable guess.
- Encourage nonverbal communication. If you cannot understand what they’re saying, ask them to point or gesture.
- Limit distractions in the immediate environment. Focus and attentional processes are impaired in Alzheimer’s patients, especially those with significant frontal lobe involvement. A quiet place without distractions makes it easier to have a conversation.
- Focus on their feelings. Sometimes, the emotions behind what a patient is saying are more important than the actual content of their speech.
- Understand their world. A person with Alzheimer’s disease is living in a different reality than the rest of us — and that reality can be scary and confusing. If they keep asking to see their deceased spouse, they really do believe that person is still alive. As long as no one is being hurt, it’s okay to “play along” with their beliefs. Their mind has been taken over by a devastating disease, and it has a profound effect on how they experience and conceptualize the world. It’s hard for a mentally sound person to really understand what it’s like to have Alzheimer’s.
Approaching a New Patient with Alzheimer’s
If you’re interacting with a new patient who has Alzheimer’s disease, these tips can help you communicate with them as effectively as possible.
- Introduce yourself. Approach them from the front and tell them who you are. Eye contact helps.
- Address them by name. One’s own name is something one almost never forgets, even when one’s memory is damaged by a neurodegenerative disease. Calling the person by their name can help direct their attention toward you.
- Use simple language. Short, simple words and sentences are easier for the patient to understand.
- Speak slowly and clearly. A gentle, relaxed voice and slow speech can be calming and reassuring for these patients.
- Repeat information and questions if you need to. When speaking with an Alzheimer’s patient, you may have to repeat yourself sometimes. If they don’t respond, simply ask the question again.
- Use positive language. Instead of saying “don’t do this,” say “let’s do this instead.”
- Treat the patient with respect and dignity. Don’t talk down to your Alzheimer’s patients, or talk to other people about them as if they weren’t there.
Patience and Compassion
Patience and compassion are essential for communicating with patients who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. These patients are almost perpetually confused, lost, and sometimes frightened. Being calm, caring, and positive can make a big difference for them.
