Maximising sensory awareness for patients with dementia

Patients with dementia often exhibit significant mental state disturbances including confusion, agitation and aggression and these may be provoked or exacerbated by many external factors. The research team hypothesised that optimising the sensory awareness of residents to their environment would reduce the number of documented aggressive episodes. During this four-month study the care team documented the number of aggressive episodes in a nursing home unit before, during and after the implementation of the following changes: residents had their hearing aids and glasses checked, cleaned and fitted on a daily basis to maximise the resident's sensory awareness. Living conditions were altered with improved lighting, signing and daily sensory stimulation in line with NICE guideline recommendations. Following the implementation of this intervention, the number of documented aggressive episodes reduced throughout the study period with an overall significant reduction of 25%. The research concluded that simple non-pharmaceutical measures aimed at maximising the ability of residents to sense their environment could indeed reduce aggressive episodes.