The Aspects of Dementia Nursing Practice of Acute-phase Hospital Nurses Who Had Participated in a Dementia-care Training Workshop at a Long-term Care Facility

Abstract

  Semi-structured interviews were conducted for 10 nurses who worked in an acute-phase hospital and had participated in a dementia-care training workshop. Data were analyzed using qualitative inductive analyses to elucidate the aspects of dementia nursing practice in nurses.

  Nurses’ “personal grounded sense of learning through participating in the training workshop” enabled them to perform “nursing that promotes emotional security of elderly with dementia in the best interests of the patient,” and “nursing that ensures patient safety without using body restraint methods” as well as to actively participate in “cooperation that allows the person to continue living like him/herself.” The nurses also obtained “responses by practicing dementia nursing.” This supported “subjective expression toward improving the quality of dementia nursing” in addition to reinforcing the nursing and cooperation required for the care of elderly patients with dementia. Furthermore, “the atmosphere and system conducive to practicing dementia nursing” was found to be necessary in dementia nursing practice and was further strengthened with practice. The results suggested that the promotion of dementia-care nursing practice is influenced by the standpoint or organization of the participants in the training workshop; thus, there is need to determine the objectives for organization building aimed toward improving the quality of dementia nursing.