Donnette Case Study Alzheimer's Needs

Donnette is having a difficult time transitioning into retirement from teaching. She had taught for 27 years and the feeling of not doing that anymore for the past five years, has been difficult for to deal with. She’s suffering because she’s feeling a sense of loneliness and not knowing what to do with her life anymore. For example, her husband is always busy and spends a lot of time working in the basement and not spending much time with Donnette. Donnette isn’t able to go out on her own as she surrendered her driver’s license. Not being able to drive around anymore, may be giving her a sense of a loss of independence. Donnette is suffering with her diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. It’s difficult for her to cope with the it and has been worrying

First, I would include her basic needs. The first thing that I would do is to check how well she’s been sleeping, eating, and staying active. Donnette had indicated that she’s been having a poor appetite and a lack of motivation/interest in doing things. This is the first priority because her poor appetite can affect the way she eats and can cause a lack of nutrition in her body. Being able to eat is a basic need of the body. Not being motivated or lacking interests in doing things can affect her basic health. It’s important for her to be physically and mentally active. Safety would come next. Due to having symptoms of Alzheimer’s such as forgetfulness and short term memory loss can affect her safety. She could hurt herself and it would be important to monitor her safety at home. Next priority would be the relationship she has with her husband. Their relationship is important as Donnette counts on Jim to be her support system. Having this support system is important for her. Evaluating their relationship is important to help determine how well Donnette’s needs are being taken care of and what improvement can be done to help her

Why do you think Donnette has been prescribed citalopram? Donnette has been prescribed citalopram because it can help her with symptoms of depression. Citalopram is an antidepressant medication. By being prescribed this medication, it would help her relieve the feeling of hopelessness, sadness, and the sense of not being able to do things. It will help her have change in mood that will help increase her motivation and interest in doing more thing than before.
4. What other approaches/strategies might be beneficial for Donnette? For him?
I believe that it would be beneficial to set up short-term goals for Donnette that she can accomplish either for each day or each week. Short-term goals would help Donnette feel more independent and have a positive attitude of each goal she accomplished. Setting up goals for Donnette and Jim would be beneficial as it would help them interact with another and work together to achieve a goal. Usually Jim is on his own, but setting up a goal for both of them, will allow Jim to spend time with Donnette and understand the importance of being there to support her well-being.

3. Knowing that Donnette’s improvement is merely temporary until her dementia progresses further, how do you anticipate that her care will