Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia
Corso di laurea in infermieristica - Sede di Modena
| Thesis Title | The malnutrition and dehydration management in a person affected by dementia: the nurse’s role in various care settings |
|---|---|
| Name | Migliori Gaia |
| Supervisor(s) | Mussi Chiara |
| Academic Year | 2018/19 |
| Thesis type | Research thesis |
Abstract
According to the WHO, dementia is a disease that affects an increasing number of people. Besides physical and cognitive limitations, it could cause to the person who is affected by it, the onset of other diseases, like malnutrition and dehydration and the dissertation focuses on them. The purpose of the paper is offering an overview on which pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods can be used in the hospital and local settings through an updated literature review of the existing one, to prevent these people start to suffer from malnutrition and dehydration. Furthermore, the ethical issue about a possible placement of a device for the artificial feeding and hydration is mentioned after having taken into account the patient's will. What results is that diverse non-pharmacological strategies that a nurse could use to try to improve food and liquids intake, exist. Nevertheless, further researches should be needed to obtain the certainty about what interventions are the more efficient and to confirm that artificial nutrition and hydration don't improve nutritional state and survival.