Family and Nursing Staff Assessment of Alzheimer's Disease in Seniors at a Care Facility

Alzheimer's disease is a fatal neurological disease causing progressive deterioration of intellectual functions such as memory, reasoning, organization, language, and judgment (Narins 2005, Moore 2004). Seniors with Alzheimer’s are often cared for by family members; however, as the disease progresses it may become increasing difficult for the family to care for their loved ones leading to the decision to move the senior to a long term care facility (Galasko 1997, Gruetzner 2001). At some care facilities, residents are placed in various units corresponding to the resident’s care needs, physical health, and social and behavioral appropriateness. For the family, a unit transfer is a tangible indicator that their loved one has slipped further in the disease progression. Unit transfers are important transitions for the staff, the resident, and the family. It provides information about the resident’s disease progression, care needs, and how the family has dealt with the disease. Important to this project is how the family responds to unit transfer compared to how the care staff, having had a direct role in the transfer, feels.