Dementia Identification, Assessment and Diagnosis for Nurses

This session explores the identification, assessment and diagnosis of dementia and the benefits of an early diagnosis. Later, it will investigate what the assessment process entails and how it is experienced by people with dementia, stressing why it is important to ensure sensitive, person-centred assessment and appropriate and timely post-diagnostic support.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session you will be able to:

• Identify the most common progressive brain diseases which cause dementia symptoms
• Describe the signs and symptoms of dementia that indicate the need for assessment
• Explain why early diagnosis of dementia is beneficial and the possible outcomes if assessment and treatment is delayed
• Know about the key difficulties people living with dementia face as dementia progresses
• Describe the criteria and process used to gain a diagnosis of dementia
• Explain why it is important to treat people undergoing diagnosis with sensitivity and in a manner appropriate to them
• Explain how to refer patients to access specialist services and support networks

In this session, we will describe a person-centred approach to the identification, assessment and diagnosis of dementia, the benefits of an early diagnosis, including accessing support and services, and outline the difficulties people face over time living with a progressive brain disease.

This session has been mapped to the Dementia Training Standards Framework and is designed to support the Dementia Action Alliance Dementia Statements.