Effect of continuing nursing intervention after discharge from hospital among dementia patients

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effect of continuing nursing intervention on dementia patients′ daily living and the quality of life after discharge from hospital. Methods Totals of 85 cases of dementia patients according to the inclusion criteria were randomly divided into the observation group and the control group. Both groups received conventional neurology treatment of dementia and general life care after discharging from hospital. Besides, the observation group received continuing care, including family rehabilitation training, regular follow-up assessments and physical exercise. After 12 months enrollment, the observation group and the control group were assessed by using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment(MoCA) and Basic Activities of Daily Living (BADL). Results Before the intervention, no significant difference was found in the scores of MoCA and BADL between the control group and the observation group (P>0.05). After 12 months of intervention, the scores of MoCA in the observation group were (16.72±6.83), while those in the control group were (13.33±7.11). There was a significant difference between the two groups (t=2.24, P 0.05). Conclusions Continuing nursing intervention aimed at dementia patients can promote the rehabilitation of cognitive ability and activities of daily living of patients and effectively delay dementia progress. Key words: Dementia; Continuing nursing care; MoCA; BADL