How Skilled Human Touch Can Transform Person-Centered Dementia Care
All care-providers of older adults are challenged with adopting person-centered dementia care practices and reducing the use of antipsychotic medications. To this end, providers must integrate non-pharmacologic approaches to meet the psychosocial and behavioral health needs of elders with dementia.
Feasible and effective, Compassionate Touch® assists providers in achieving these goals. Research evidence supports Compassionate Touch® as a means to reduce behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia and create positive engagement of elders, staff and family caregivers.
Touch and Older Adults
Touch deprivation in old age is real, especially for the medically frail elder, leading to feelings of isolation, anxiety, poor trust in caregivers, insecurity and decreased sensory awareness.
Older adults living with serious conditions are often especially receptive to touch. Unfortunately, they are least likely to receive expressive human touch from health care providers. Nursing students have been shown to experience anxiety about touching older patients.
Elders report that “touch conveys fondness, security, closeness, warmth, concern, and encouragement, and makes them feel an increased sense of trust and well-being.”
Answering the Need
Compassionate Touch® is an evidence-based, relationship-centered, practical, pro-active and cost-effective approach combining skilled touch with compassionate presence. It’s a tool that can help establish holistic dementia care while meeting regulatory requirements.
Compassionate Touch® brings together the world of medical technology with the human side of care.
The methods used in Compassionate Touch® combine specific touch techniques—including focused touch, hand massage, slow-stroke back massage and foot massage—with the qualities of presence.
The above information is an excerpt from the white paper offered by The Center for Compassionate Touch, to read and download the white paper in its entirety visit the website and click on the download whitepaper icon.
http://www.compassionate-touch.org/about/about-us/
Online Compassionate Touch Education
For a limited time our online continuing education course Massage and Compassionate Touch in Dementia Care by Ann Catlin, will be offered at a substantial savings. Educate up to 50 staff members in the techniques of compassionate touch for a one-time fee of $500.00. Our online system allows your staff to log in anytime, anywhere from any computer or tablet device to access the 2 contact hour course.
Your staff will be introduced to compassionate touch, review the challenges all caregivers face in delivering care to those affected by dementia. Complete with videos made by Ann, your staff will learn the guidelines, massage protocols and precautions required to provide holistic patient-centered dementia care.
To learn more please send an email with your inquiry to Breanna.Reeves@AlixaRx.com or contact us at 800-475-0025.
Capra Dalton, Registered Nurse, has more than 28 years of experience in infusion therapy and the instruction of licensed nurses in infusion therapy continuing education. Her experience comes from multiple infusion settings: acute care, ambulatory infusion centers, home infusion, long term care continuing education provider, and long term care pharmacy quality assurance consultant. As the CEO, Capra is responsible for all operational aspects of Pedagogy, including education course content, author recruitment, and management. She is a member of the National Nurses in Business Association and received her nursing education from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. Capra has an avid interest in holistic healing, nutrition, herbs, and alternative therapies for the treatment of disease in humans as well as animals. She and her husband, Patrick, live on a ranch near Tyler, Texas.
