Abstract
It has been documented that Alzheimer's disease patients suffer from sleep pattern changes and this interrupted sleep pattern is disruptive to the caregiver as well as the patient. There is little printed information in this area. The study will show sleep patterns in the Alzheimer patient, at home vs. in hospital, do appear to have some differences. Data was collected on 21 Alzheimer patients admitted for a two week in-hospital stay. Overall data was collected over a four week period of time. Assessment checksheets were completed by the caregiver on day seven and day two pre-hospitalization and day two and day seven posthospitalization. Nursing staff used the same checksheets on days two, seven, and 13 during hospitalization. Sleep time was tabulatedfrom this data. Significant differences were found in the mean number of hours slept at home versus in hospital. The data will support the conclusion that hospitalization for respite care does have a detrimental effect on the Alzheimer patient.
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