Distress of surgical nursing personnel in dealing with patients with dementia

Challenging behavior of patients with dementia (PawD) leads to distress among nursing staff in acute hospital settings. Different levels of distress can be assumed between medical and surgical staff. Less is known about distress in surgical departments.

The aim is to summarize and synthesize current empirical studies on distress experienced by surgical nursing staff in dealing with PawD and the associated occurrence of challenging behavior.

As part of an integrative review, a literature search was conducted in September 2024 in the databases CINAHL, MEDLINE (via PubMed) and PubPsych. German and English language studies from January 2011 onwards were included to reflect the most recent empirical results. The analysis was carried out according to the 4 phases of Whittemore and Knafl.

A total of 7 studies were included in which surgical nursing staff described distress in connection with the topics of challenging behavior, in the form of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), communication, hospital setting, implementation of person-centered approaches and training as well as pain assessment and identification.

Surgical nursing personnel need more opportunities and knowledge to be able to deal more confidently with the distress and challenges of dealing with PawD. Further studies are necessary to be able to make more reliable statements.