The Department of Fundamentals of Nursing organized a “Dementia Care.” session on May 30, 2024, between 03:30 pm and 05:30 pm through the MS Teams virtual platform as part of the Student Collaboration activity series.

Dr. Tony Bewely, adjunct faculty at MCON and senior lecturer and program coordinator at Edgehill University, gave an overview of the speakers and sessions. Ms. Karen Thompson Butler, an EdgeHill University service users group member, spoke about her experience caring for patients with dementia, including caring for her mother. She went on to discuss his experiences with hospitalization, family support, and coping with issues.  

Ms. Asha Nayak, Assistant Professor, Department of Mental Health (Psychiatric) Nursing, MCON, Manipal, gave an overview of dementia and its consequences for dealing with different emotions. She further discussed the various psychosocial issues faced with the help of a patient’s example.   She briefly introduced the multiple aspects of patient and caregiver issues in the Indian scenario and the engagement of family members in the decision-making process. One of the MCON BSc Nursing students, Ms Shaina Tauro, shared her experiences of interacting with dementia patients during her two months of international placement at a hospice centre at the University of Stavanger, Norway. She further added the different challenges she experienced while caring, which included the language barrier, other patients with emotional instability, and the kind of understanding that works best in these situations.

Students and presenters from both colleges conversed as they examined all the caring concerns in various settings. Ms. Gemma Lightfoot and Mr. Mathew Shijo moderated the Student Collaboration Series-12. 

Thirty-five participants actively participated in the session (19 from MCON and 16 from Edgehill University).

This initiative contributed to the SDGs as listed below.

SDG 3: Good Health and Wellbeing

SDG 17: Partnership for the Goals