Dementia and Alzheimer's disease: a practical orientation.
This article presents a functional, brief, and, above all, practical orientation to Alzheimer's disease. This disease, with its many unanswered questions (and occasional unquestioned answers), is in first instance a disease to be cared for. The burden of this caring initially falls on care-givers and families; however, once Alzheimer's patients enter the formal health care system, nurses will be at the forefront of care. The foundation to good care is a solid but also applied understanding of the disease,how it manifests itself, and how it is experienced by patients, caregivers,and families.
Abraham
Ivo L
IL
Matrix45, 620 Frays Ridge Road, Earlysville, VA 22936, USA. iabraham@matrix45.com
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000451:nursing* / Q000523:psychology; D001294:Attitude to Health; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D015984:Causality; D003071:Cognition; D017281:Cost of Illness; D018450:Disease Progression; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D005851:Geriatric Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration; D006701:Home Nursing; D006801:Humans; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index