Practical dementia resources
This video is 4 minutes 10 seconds. It describes how care staff used a pain assessment tool to reduce the need for inappropriate medication.
Consent has been gained from all those who shared their stories.
Using Painchek to monitor pain & reduce medication
Please note: These are examples of what staff have done that have led to better outcomes for the people involved. However, it is important to recognise they will not suit everyone’s needs but serve to offer potential suggestions and to encourage you to explore alternative solutions that may help. Each example is the result of firstly getting to know and understand the individual, being curious to find solutions to providing better care and closely monitoring the outcomes of any changes made. If initiating suggestions given from the stories shared, we would encourage you to safeguard that person-centred care is in place and that you complement your learning from these stories with the relevant training needed to ensure you have the confidence and knowledge required.
Now take time to reflect.
Think of an individual you support…
Would this advice work for the person you support?
What else do you need to think about?
How can you implement this? What help do you need to do this?
Do you disagree with any aspect of the video?
- Music helps
offers a free online course, that will inspire you to use music to improve the lives of people with dementia. - A Scottish Government short film describing the power of music.
- Dementia UK share the benefits of music therapy and how it can impact the brain.
- Playlists for life
- The Abbey Pain Scale is used to assess the pain in people who cannot verbalise i.e. people with dementia or communication difficulties.
Reference: Abbey, J; De Bellis, A; Piller, N; Esterman, A; Giles, L; Parker, D and Lowcay, B. Funded by the JH & JD Gunn Medical Research Foundation 1998 – 2002. - PainCheck is an AI-driven technology with user-guided features that can be used to identify a persons’ pain with consistency. This includes those who cannot verbalise their pain, those who can self-report, and those who fluctuate between the two. Please note that there is a cost to using PainCheck.
- This British Association for Music Therapist information on the Art of Working with People with dementia
, demonstrates where music interactions sit on the spectrum of musical engagement; just music, music for and music with.