Question

Case study 4

Josephine has advanced dementia and lives in a care facility. She cannot communicate using words and requires a lot of physical assistance with showering and dressing.

When Josephine is bored, distressed, angry or upset she throws her head back into the chair repeatedly and pulls out her hair. It is not always obvious to the support workers what the triggers are for these behaviours are or how they can best minimise her disruptive and problematic behaviours.

Isaac works at the care facility and seems to be able to minimise Josephine’s problematic behaviours more so than other workers.

The rest of the workers don’t understand why her behaviour varies so much as they are all following the same information in the behaviour plan.

What type of information should Isaac and the other support workers document about Josephine’s behaviours?

Answer 1

Issac and other support workers should document the abnormal and violent behavior of the patient. They should document the behavior by specifically mentioning the action of behavior and it should not be vague. Because of only specific information helps to get more appropriate information about patient's behavior and helps to plan interventions accordingly. The document should contain a subjective report. Documenting a patient's behavior should be clear, concise, and exact.