Alzheimer’s disease is a gradually progressing condition that has three general stages. It affects different people in different ways. Alzheimer’s symptoms get worse as time passes with most patients spending most of the time in the second stage (Lu & Bludau, 2011). The patient is having trouble understanding news events, grooming, and managing personal finances. The patient exhibits difficulties with socially challenging situations as evidenced by the decision to drop out of the chess club and avoiding social events. Based on this, it seems the patient is at the Moderate Alzheimer’s stage, which is characterized by forgetfulness, moodiness, difficulty recalling personal information, and personality changes (Waldemar & Burns, 2016). All these symptoms confirm that the patient is at the middle stage of Alzheimer’s disease.
The first priority assessment is to check the ability of the patient to function on his own because it is key to determining the progress of the disease. Assess the level of cognitive disorders like a change in orientation to different people, range, attention, and thinking capabilities. The third assessment to check the level of disorientation and confusion. It is germane to understand the risks the patient faces given his long standing history with hypertension and atherosclerosis.
The patient’s wife will have difficulties coping with the changes that will happen to her husband. She should expect the patient to lose the ability to carry out some tasks independently; therefore, she will be expected to help him with some tasks. Ultimately, these changes might influence their relationship. The key is to be calm and with time the caregiver can develop coping strategies.
The three inter-collaborative referrals that the patient might need include:
- The client should be referred to a registered nurse who will help with performing memory functions, checking vital signs, and any other caregiving functions (Galvin, Valois, & Zweig, 2014).
- A social worker who will help with psychotherapy and counselling for the patient. They might provide help by connecting the patient with different professionals.
- A neuropsychologist might be needed to help test and monitor the progress of the patient.
- Galvin, J. E., Valois, L., & Zweig, Y. (2014). Collaborative transdisciplinary team approach for dementia care. Neurodenerative Disease Management , 4 (6), 455-469.
- Lu, L. C., & Bludau, J. (2011). Alzheimer’s disease. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood.
- Waldemar, G., & Burns, A. (Eds.). (2016). Alzheimer’s disease. (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press,.