How should I communicate with someone with dementia?

26 February, 2013 | By Fran Entwistle

Nurses and other healthcare workers are often anxious about communicating with people who are living with dementia.

Article

Stokes G (2013) Tackling communication challenges in dementia care. Nursing Times; 109: 8, 14-15

Author

Graham Stokes is director of dementia care, Bupa

This article will tell you about

What a diagnosis of dementia means
The four stages of dementia
Strategies for communicating effectively with dementia patients

You would be likely to reference this article if you were researching

The experience of dementia patients
How to communicate meaningfully with patients who have this diagnosis

In what situations will this article be useful for me?

This article would be useful for anyone working in any elderly care setting. Knowing how to communicate with patients with dementia will be beneficial even if you are not working specifically in a dementia setting.

Questions for your mentor/tutor

Do you feel I am communicating effectively with patients who may have difficulty understanding?

What do you do that works well?

Student NT decoder

Dementia

Dementia is a syndrome (a group of related symptoms) that is associated with an ongoing decline of the brain and its abilities (NHS Choices).