Perioperative Nurses' Experience of Working With Persons Living With Dementia

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Purpose To explore the experiences of nurses working with persons living with dementia (PLWD) in perioperative settings. Method A study using qualitative description methodology was conducted. We interviewed 20 nurses working on four units in an academic medical center. Conventional content analysis was used to analyze the data. Results Five themes were discovered: (1) Nurses' Descriptions of PLWD Perioperative Experience ; (2) Nurses' Descriptions of Caregivers' Perioperative Experience ; (3) Nurses' Work ; (4) Unit Setup and Patient Flow ; and (5) Recommendations for Improving Perioperative Care for PLWD . Aspects that complicated care provision included: neuropsychiatric symptoms, cognitive impairment, routine disruption, pain, and insufficient staffing. Conclusion Working with PLWD is time-consuming for nurses and they frequently lack knowledge and skills to provide high-quality care. Ways to improve perioperative care for PLWD and their caregivers are summarized, including through nurses' baccalaureate and continuing education.