Caring Checklist: What to Do When a Loved One With Dementia Is Hospitalized
Whether it's for a planned procedure or a medical crisis, hospitalization can be chaotic and confusing for both family caregivers and a patient with dementia.
Your first stop at the hospital will be having your loved one formally admitted. A hospital admission is the process of getting the patient set up administratively for a room and bed, and clinically with the right medical orders and care plan. The admissions desk takes care of the first part: paperwork regarding insurance, contact information, and internal hospital planning.
The clinical admission is then done by the hospital doctors. This includes taking the patient's history and conducting a physical exam. Next, orders for monitoring and treatment are written based on the patient's needs. If your loved one begins in the emergency room, these evaluations will first be done there. But if an overnight admission to the hospital is necessary, the steps will be repeated, because the hospital itself has a different structure and staff, as well as a longer-term treatment vision than the emergency room. Although this process can seem confusing and redundant, think of it as dealing with two separate entities (even though the ER and the hospital may be physically attached and share the same name).
To help get your loved one's hospital stay off to the best start, take these steps during the admissions process:
1. Explain the person's dementia status.
Make sure it's clearly marked in your loved one's patient chart that he or she has dementia. But don't stop there. Also be sure the person's dementia status indicates whether it's the mild, moderate, or severe stage of dementia.
Also very useful: Explain what your loved one can usually do and not do for himself or herself. This will help make clearer to medical staff which changes during hospitalization are the result of something like medications, treatment side effects, or delirium, since hospital staff will likely be looking out for changes compared with the person's usual level of cognitive and physical functioning.
