Communication with the Cognitively Impaired (1 CEU”s)

One of the biggest challenges for Nurse Assistants and other caregivers is working with clients who are cognitively impaired. Cognitively-impaired patients have difficulty with one or more of the basic functions of their brain, such as perception, memory, concentration and reasoning skills. Patients with moderate to severe dementia or another cognitive impairment often require special care, including close supervision, specialized communication techniques and management of difficult behavior. 

Patients with cognitive impairment may experience a range of behavioral problems that can be frustrating for Nurse Assistants. They may withdraw from or lose interest in activities, grow irritable or uncharacteristically angry when frustrated or tired, or become insensitive to other people’s feelings. During more advanced stages of cognitive impairment, patients may behave inappropriately—kicking, hitting, screaming, or cursing 

Common causes of cognitive impairment include Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, stroke, Parkinson’s disease, brain injury, brain tumor or HIV-associated dementia. 

Learning Objectives

After completion of this course, the Nurse Assistant will be able to;

• Identify measures to assist in communicating with cognitively impaired patients
• Recognize barriers to effectively communicate with cognitively impaired patients
• Recognize three kinds of communication
• Identify two possible causes of cognitive impairment
• Identify two aspects of non-verbal communication

Instructions for taking the course

To complete the course successfully, you must go through all the lessons below. You MUST mark each lesson as complete by clicking the MARK COMPLETE BUTTON. If you do not click the mark complete button, you will not be allowed to proceed to the next lesson. Please notice that all lessons have a minimum set amount of time that you are expected to spend on each lesson. You will not be allowed to Mark the Lesson Complete until the timer resets to zero; that is, until the minimum time set for the course has passed. For example if lesson A has an allocated minimum time of 10 minutes, you will have to wait 10 minutes before you can mark Lesson A complete. The Mark Complete button for lesson A will be grayed out and will not become active until 10 minutes are over.

WARNINGIf you forget to click the Mark Complete button done, you will be prompted to go back to that lesson again and have to wait till the allocated timed minutes resets to zero again before the Mark Complete button becomes active. After all lessons are completed and they are Marked Completed, you will then be allowed to take the post test. If you successfully pass the quiz, you will earn CEU’s for this course and you can proceed to print out your certificate.

LESSONS & QUIZ BELOW