Lerner-Centered Teaching Plan to Prevent Falling in the Patients of Dementia

Introduction
Margaret is 87 years old lady who is suffering from dementia. Margaret’s daughter and her son-
in-law are at her bedside after having hip surgery. The key purpose behind this paper is to set the
attainable and measureable goals to guide the teaching of Margaret and her family in three
minutes teaching session. This three minute teaching session will cover all the three domains of
Bloom’s Taxonomy including affective, Cognitive, and Psychomotor.
Dementia itself is not a specific disease rather it is an umbrella term which covers a wide range
of specific medical conditions. Dementia is generally misinterpreted as aging but it is not a
general memory lose rather it is caused by abnormal brain changes. These abnormal changes in
brain activity trigger a significant decline in cognitive abilities including decisions making,
thinking, comprehension and memorization. Cognitive decline caused by dementia is severe
enough to impair routine life of the patient. Behavior, relationships, mood and feelings of an
individual are also get affected by this disease.
Dementia not only causes memory impairment but also decreases the muscular movement of
patients. Likelihood of falling is higher in the patients of dementia than other people of the same
age. In this case Margaret a 78 years old lady is suffering from dementia and it is quite
challenging for her to move around independently. She also cannot avoid the trouble making
factors in her environment due to her restricted ability of interpretation and comprehension. She
needs the support of her family members in order to avoid potential risk of falling again as she
already got an injury.
Learning Plan

Bloom’s Taxonomy model is utilized to design the given teaching plan. This model includes
three domains including cognitive, affective and psychomotor. Goals set in this plan cover all the
three domains.
The learning plan given below includes the learning objectives to guide the teaching process of
Margaret and her family to prevent falling.

Learning Objective Teaching Strategies Rationale for the Selection of


Cognitive Domain
The aim of this domain is to
develop the knowledge
(Adam, 2015).
Learning Objective
The key purpose of Cognitive
Domain in aforementioned
scenario is to develop the
knowledge about
identification of the
environmental hazards that
can cause falling. These
environmental hazards include
slippery or wet surface,
perilous footwear, uneven
pavement and messy floor.
Exclusion of these hazards can to ask the questions of their
reduce the risk of falling.
Psychomotor Domain
Memorizing information is a
difficult task for the patient of
dementia. Margaret is unable
to memorize all this novel
information regarding the
elimination of hazardous
material from environment.
So, I will design some useful
notes including visual aids for
Margaret to help her
identifying the hazardous
material around her.
However, for the family
members a productive
interactive session will be
organized. They will be able
concern and I will brief them
about the process of the
identification of
environmental hazards in
order to minimize the risk of
falling.
Patients having dementia find
Teaching Strategy
The key reason behind
selecting the strategy of visual
aids for Margaret is her
inability to memorize verbal
information.
I opted out interactive
discussion as a strategy to
guide the family members of
Margaret. I think hour’s long
sessions can be tiring for
Margaret and her family. So, it
will be more comfortable for
them to attend a brief
interactive session where they
can clear their doubts and
concerns by questions.
The strategy of involving
This domain is about the
physical activity of an
individual (Seaman, 2011).
Learning Objective
Yoga, Physical Exercise, and
walk are good for Margaret’s
physical strength. Patients
with dementia find it difficult
to move their muscles and lose become a part of community
physical balance
consequently. Regular
exercise and physical activity
help them regaining physical
balance so, they can avoid
falling (Brutan et al, 2015).
Affective Domain
Affective domain in Bloom’s
Taxonomy includes receiving
and responding to the
phenomenon, valuing,
organizing and internalizing
the values (Adams, 2015).
Learning Objective
Margaret and her family
should be aware of the
potential risk of falling again.
“It is not going to happen
it difficult to move their body
parts consequently, they lose
their physical balance.
Physical therapist can assist
Margaret to regain her
physical strength by doing
exercise.
I will also advice Margaret to
sessions arranged for the
patients of dementia in order
to enhance their motor
abilities.
I will ask her family to plan
some daily activities for
Margaret after her recovery.
Supportive and motivating
environment will increase the
interest of the learner. Learner
will become aware that
willingness to learn and
Margaret in some physical
activity will make her strong
and she will be able to get
control over her body parts.
Participation in community
sessions for seniors will
enable her to socialize and
communicate with other
people of her community.
Yoga and other exercises will
result in positive behavioral
change and decreased physical
damage.
It is imperative to develop the
interest of learner by
motivating and supporting
him.
Positive feedback from family
and decreased chances of
 again” approach must be
replaced with reality that it
will not happen again if the
precautionary measures will
be taken at this point. This
realization will lead Margaret
and her family to the active
participation in learning
process. Willingness to learn
and practice will minimize the
risk of getting hurt physically.
practice will decrease the falling down will increase the
damage and increase the motivation level of Margaret.
likelihood of positive She will follow the given
behavior. Using cues, visual instructions ardently.
aids, and reminders will
motivate Margaret to avoid
accidents. Elimination of
environmental hazards will
decrease the likelihood of
falling. Healthy physical
activities will result in
changed behavior.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Margaret is a patient with dementia at higher risk for future falls as she already
has had a hip injury by falling. However, being a nurse it is quite challenging for me to teach a
patient with dementia but it is imperative to guide Margaret and her family by using all the three
domains to prevent future falling. I will teach Margaret and her family to identify the
environmental hazards that can cause a fall, as well as to understand the significance of exercise
and physical activity to gain physical strength to prevent falling. My ultimate concern as a nurse
is to design attainable goals in order to assist Margaret and her family to avoid physical
mutilation because of falling.
 References
Adams, N. E. (2015). Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive learning objectives. Journal of the Medical Library
Association: JMLA, 103(3), 152.

Seaman, M. (2011). BLOOM'S TAXONOMY. Curriculum & Teaching Dialogue, 13.

Burton, E., Cavalheri, V., Adams, R., Browne, C. O., Bovery-Spencer, P., Fenton, A. M., ... & Hill, K. D.
(2015). Effectiveness of exercise programs to reduce falls in older people with dementia living in the
community: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical interventions in aging, 10, 421.