Question

Scenario

You are the nurse working triage in the emergency department (ED). This afternoon a woman brings in her father, ALI, a 72-year-old who is a retired doctor. The daughter reports that over the past several months she has noticed her father has progressively had problems with his mental capacity. These changes have developed gradually but seem to be getting worse. At times he is alert, and at other times he seems disoriented, depressed, and tearful. He is forgetting things and doing things out of the ordinary, such as placing the milk in the cupboard and sugar in the refrigerator. He had difficulty finding objects in the kitchen and at times forgets where his room is.

This morning he thought it was nighttime and wondered what his daughter was doing at his house. He could not pour his coffee, and he seems to be getting more agitated. ALI reports that he has been having memory problems for the past year and at times has difficulty remembering the names of family members and friends.

A review of his past medical history (PMH) is significant for hypercholesterolemia and coronary artery disease (CAD). He had a myocardial infarction (MI) 5 years ago. ALI’s vital signs (VS) today are all within normal limits (WNL).

Q: What are the behaviors associated with dementia? Identify three.                ​​​​​​​

Answer 1