The nurse is caring for a patient with Alzheimer disease (AD). When the family comes to visit, they are excited to hear the patient talk about when he was a child and tell the nurse that they think his memory is returning. Which statement by the nurse is appropriate?

“AD is characterized by an initial loss of recent memory leaving older memories intact until late in the disease process.”. AD is characterized by retrograde amnesia; older memories are relatively preserved until late in the disease process but newer memories are progressively lost. Family members should be educated that the patient being able to recall past memories is not a sign of improvement but rather feature of the disease. AD symptoms can vary somewhat from day to day but is on the whole a steady degenerative decline; sudden changes in severity are more characteristic of vascular dementia. “AD symptoms can vary day to day, so you shouldn’t get your hopes up.” may be accurate, but it is very blunt.

The nurse is caring for a patient with Alzheimer disease (AD). W...

Category: Psychosocial Integrity
Difficulty: 4

Topics: Mental Health Disorders Neurology

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