Assessing and Treating Clients With Dementia

The Alzheimer’s Association defines dementia as “a general term for a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily life” (Alzheimer’s Association, 2016). This term encompasses dozens of cognitive disorders of impaired memory formation, recall, and communication. The care and treatment of clients with dementia is dependent on multiple factors, including the stage of dementia, comorbidities, family support, and even the care setting. In your role, as the psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, you must be prepared to not only treat clients with these various cognitive disorders, but also the multiple behavioral issues that often accompany them. For this Assignment, as you examine the client case study in this week’s Learning Resources, consider how you might assess and treat clients presenting with dementia.

Reference: Alzheimer’s Association. (2016). What is dementia? Retrieved from http://www.alz.org/what-is-dementia.asp

To prepare for this Assignment:

· Review this week’s Learning Resources. Consider how to assess and treat clients requiring therapy for dementia.
Week 10 Discussion
NURS 6630

The Assignment

Examine Case Study: An Elderly Iranian Man With Alzheimer’s Disease. You will be asked to make three decisions concerning the medication to prescribe to this client. Be sure to consider factors that might impact the client’s pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic processes. At each decision point stop to complete the following:

Introduction regarding disease state
High-level summary of patient case
Purpose of the essay statement

Decision #1

What options were listed?
Which decision did you select?
Why did you select this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
Why didn’t you select the other two options?
What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
Explain any difference between what you expected to achieve with Decision #1 and the results of the decision. Why were they different?

Decision #2

What options were listed?
What option did you choose?
Why did you select this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
Why didn’t you select the other two options?
What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
Explain any difference between what you expected to achieve with Decision #2 and the results of the decision. Why were they different?

Decision #3

What options were listed?
What option did you choose?
Why did you select this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
Why didn’t you select the other two options?
What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
Explain any difference between what you expected to achieve with Decision #3 and the results of the decision. Why were they different?

Also include how ethical considerations might impact your treatment plan and communication with clients.

ORDER NOW FOR ORIGINAL, PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPERS

Note : Support your rationale with a minimum of three academic resources. While you may use the course text to support your rationale, it will not count toward the resource requirement.

Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.

References

Stahl, S. M. (2013). Stahl’s essential psychopharmacology: Neuroscientific basis and practical applications (4th ed.). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

To access the following chapter, click on the Essential Psychopharmacology, 4th ed tab on the Stahl Online website and select the appropriate chapter. Be sure to read all sections on the left navigation bar for each chapter.Assessing and Treating Clients With Dementia

Chapter 13, “Dementia and Its Treatment”

Stahl, S. M. (2014b). The prescriber’s guide (5th ed.). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

To access information on the following medications, click on The Prescriber’s Guide, 5th ed tab on the Stahl Online website and select the appropriate medication.

Review the following medications:

For insomnia

donepezil
galantamine
memantine
rivastigmine

Bui, Q. (2012). Antidepressants for agitation and psychosis in patients with dementia. American Family Physician, 85(1), 20–22. Retrieved from http://www.aafp.org/journals/afp.html

Note: Retrieved from from the Walden Library databases.

Meltzer, H. Y., Mills, R., Revell, S., Williams, H., Johnson, A., Bahr, D., & Friedman, J. H. (2010). Pimavanserin, a serotonin receptor inverse agonist for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease psychosis. Neuropsychopharmacology, 35, 881–891. Retrieved from http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v35/n4/pdf/npp2009176a.pdf

Required Media

Laureate Education. (2016h). Case study: An elderly Iranian man with Alzheimer’s disease [Interactive media file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Note: This case study will serve as the foundation for this week’s Assignment.

An Elderly Iranian Man with Alzheimer’s Sample

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurological ailment that develops gradually and gets worse over time. Nearly 70% of all dementia cases worldwide have been linked to the illness. The absence of memory for recent events is one of the most common early signs. Other symptoms, such as language problems, mood swings, disorientation, behavioral problems, a lack of self-care management, and disorientation, may develop as the illness worsens (Houmani et al., 2018). All biological functions will eventually cease, which will end in death. Although the life expectancy of the condition varies, the average expectancy does not exceed nine years from diagnosis. Despite the fact that there is no known cure for the illness, it can be managed to improve the quality of life for sufferers.

The case study for the present assignment entails the examination and treatment of an elderly Iranian man who displays strange behaviors according to his son. Mr. Akan has lost interest in things that erstwhile interested him. Further, the client has been forgetting things and his subjective test revealed confabulation during mental health testing process. Mr. Akad also has restricted affect and impaired impulse and judgment. A mini-mental state examination reveals that Mr. Akad suffers from major neurocognitive disorder caused by presumptive Alzheimer’s disease. This paper describes the assessment outcomes and treatment options for an elderly Iranian man, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. The condition can be treated with pharmacological interventions, which are dependent on among other factors dosage, proper selection of drug, and time of use, and administration route.Assessing and Treating Clients With Dementia

Decision Point One

For this decision, there were three options listed. One was to begin Razadyne (galantamien) 4 mg daily. The second one was to begin Aricept (donepezil) 5 mg orally at bedtime. While the third one, which was the one that I selected was to begin Exelon (rivastigmine) 1.5 mg orally BID with an increase to 3 mg orally BID in 2 weeks.

RESOURCES

Folstein, M. F., Folstein, S. E., & McHugh, P. R. (2002). Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Lutz, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.

Decision Point One

Select what the PMHNP should do:

Begin Exelon (rivastigmine) 1.5 mg orally BID with an increase to 3 mg orally BID in 2 weeks
Begin Aricept (donepezil) 5 mg orally at BEDTIME
Begin Razadyne (galantamine) 4 mg orally BID

Decision Point One

Begin Razadyne (galantamine) 4 mg orally BID

RESULTS OF DECISION POINT ONE

Client returns to clinic in four weeks
The client is accompanied by his son who reports that his father is “no better” from this medication
He reports that his father is still disinterested in attending religious services/activities, and continues to exhibit disinhibited behaviors
You continue to note confabulation and decide to administer the MMSE again. Mr. Akkad again scores 18 out of 30 with primary deficits in orientation, registration, attention & calculation, and recall

Decision Point Two

Increase Razadyne to 24 mg extended release daily

RESULTS OF DECISION POINT TWO

Client returns to clinic in four weeks
The client’s son accompanies the client to his appointment today. The client is in a wheelchair and is somewhat agitated
You are informed by the son that his father has not taken his medication since he got out of the hospital. Apparently, about 7 days after starting the Galantamine extended release, the client began having seizures which resulted in a fall and fractured hip. The son reports that his father is agitated with everyone and is asking for help in treating his agitation

Decision Point Three

Restart Razadyne extended release 24 mg

Guidance to Student

Razadyne extended release 24 mg is a “target” dose—not a starting dose. Side effects of Razadyne include GI side effects as well as dizziness. Rare side effects include seizures. If no other medications were added to the client’s medication regimen and no other physical issues were present (e.g., metabolic derangements), then the high dose of Razadyne in this client would most likely be responsible for his seizures, which resulted in the fall and the hip fracture. This would represent malpractice. If the PMHNP were to consider restarting Razadyne, it should be restarted at a proper starting dose, as side effects are often dose dependent.

Risperdal would not be appropriate to treat agitation in this client as the FDA has issued a black box warning against the treatment of agitation in dementia with antipsychotic medications. Although they can still be used despite black box warnings, the PMHNP should conduct a comprehensive assessment of this client to see if a physical issue is causing the agitation. A hip fracture is often associated with pain, and untreated pain may be the cause of the client’s agitation. Therefore, assessment for pain would be the correct choice in this scenario.

Never use psychotropic drugs to treat behaviors until physical causes of the behavior have been ruled out (e.g., pain, infection, constipation).

Finally, it is important to note that changes in the MMSE should be evaluated over the course of months, not weeks. The absence of change in the MMSE after 4 weeks of treatment should not be a source of concern.

Assessing and Treating Clients With Dementia