00:01
Let's go into some other
aspects of cognitive disorders
where the person now has an increased
need for healthcare decision making,
like advanced directives, living
wills, guardianship, power of attorney.
00:17
What do we mean by all of these things?
When you go into nursing school,
you're not going to law school.
00:24
But it's really important to
understand that your patient who
is now beginning to lose the capacity to make
decisions for him or herself or they self,
it is so important to have a family conversation.
00:40
Bring in the social worker, have the
family sit down, and understand that
this person, while they can make decisions
should have an advanced directive,
they should probably have a living will in the event
that their Alzheimer's disease takes its course,
and they are living in a stupor.
01:03
Guardianship is something that's
very painful for a family to do.
01:09
They have to go to court, they have to demonstrate
that the person that they want guardianship over
is no longer capable of taking care of themselves.
01:20
But that way, they are able to provide for
they are able to take care of their loved one.
01:27
And also getting power of attorney
who is going to make decisions.
01:32
So these are really important
and terribly difficult topics,
but they need to be undertaken by us and by
social workers and the other team in the hospital.
01:44
Taking care of a person with a neurocognitive
disorder is a multi disciplinary task.
01:50
It is not only on the shoulders of nurses,
we share this whole idea with the rest of the
team, because it requires that much of us.
02:01
We want to make sure that the financial burdens
that this person and their family are going through
that there are a team of people to try and
assist as these progressive diseases continue.
02:19
This way we're able to help
them with the provision of care,
as well as that caregiver
burden that we were discussing