End of Life and Dementia Care
Unit F5038704 : End of Life and Dementia Care .
Credit Value : 2
This unit must be assessed in accordance with Skills for Care and Development's QCF Assessment Principles.
Learning Outcome 1 : Understand considerations for individuals with dementia at end of life
Assessment Criteria
1.1.
Outline in what ways dementia can be a terminal illness
Dementia is brain atrophy. It’s a degenerative disease, which is progressive, and for the time being, incurable condition.
Dementia is a terminal illness; and patients with advanced dementia suffer from distressing symptoms, just like people with other terminal decease, such as cancer.
Studies show that advanced dementia patients are often not recognised as being at high risk of death. As a consequence, they receive insufficient palliative care, which should improve the comfort of the terminally ill.
During the last stage of dementia, patients' memory loss can be so profound they are unable to recognise close family members, speak fewer than six words, are incontinent and cannot walk around.
Other symptoms are also common and increasing including pain, pressure ulcers, shortness of breath and aspiration as patients get to the end of their lives.
Individuals with advanced dementia are often unable to communicate their symptoms, so they often are untreated, which makes them vulnerable to pain, difficulty of breathing and other conditions.(
1.2.
Compare the differences in the end of life experience of an individual with dementia to that of an individual without dementia
An individual with dementia and an individual without dementia may have differences in their end of life experience regarding their reaction to their
• diagnosis and its prognosis Individuals with dementia may have limited understanding the diagnosis and the prognosis of their condition compared to other individuals facing the end of life experience.
• pain and other physical discomfort Individuals with
Credit Value : 2
This unit must be assessed in accordance with Skills for Care and Development's QCF Assessment Principles.
Learning Outcome 1 : Understand considerations for individuals with dementia at end of life
Assessment Criteria
1.1.
Outline in what ways dementia can be a terminal illness
Dementia is brain atrophy. It’s a degenerative disease, which is progressive, and for the time being, incurable condition.
Dementia is a terminal illness; and patients with advanced dementia suffer from distressing symptoms, just like people with other terminal decease, such as cancer.
Studies show that advanced dementia patients are often not recognised as being at high risk of death. As a consequence, they receive insufficient palliative care, which should improve the comfort of the terminally ill.
During the last stage of dementia, patients' memory loss can be so profound they are unable to recognise close family members, speak fewer than six words, are incontinent and cannot walk around.
Other symptoms are also common and increasing including pain, pressure ulcers, shortness of breath and aspiration as patients get to the end of their lives.
Individuals with advanced dementia are often unable to communicate their symptoms, so they often are untreated, which makes them vulnerable to pain, difficulty of breathing and other conditions.(
1.2.
Compare the differences in the end of life experience of an individual with dementia to that of an individual without dementia
An individual with dementia and an individual without dementia may have differences in their end of life experience regarding their reaction to their
• diagnosis and its prognosis Individuals with dementia may have limited understanding the diagnosis and the prognosis of their condition compared to other individuals facing the end of life experience.
• pain and other physical discomfort Individuals with