Doll Therapy

semiller36545 · Apr 28, 2008

I have seen this a lot,too ,over the years. It always seems to help some of the residents a lot. There must be some way to work them into a care plan as comfort items or activity therapy. Got to be something , for all the good they do. Bless whoever made such a thoughtful donation.

NicuGal, MSN, RN · Apr 28, 2008

My daughter's girlscout troop buys dolls for the LTC facility they volunteer at! They did this as part of their bronze award :) It gives them such joy to see those little old ladies loving up their baby. Is their a way you could work it into the comfort diagnosis?

nightmare, RN · Apr 28, 2008

How about digital, reminiscence, comfort therapy? Digital,because it gives them something to do with their hands, reminiscence because it makes them remember their own babies and comfort because,so often,they get really upset because they are looking for their children.

HM2VikingRN, RN · Apr 28, 2008

relief of anxiety?

appropriate self comfort measures

encourages contact with others

remembrance is good

I think that it is a very appropriate support for patients.

I am not sure that it really needs to be care planned but the old saying is "give the boss what they want."

danissa, LPN, LVN · Apr 28, 2008

What a sweet and simple comfort measure. And inexpensive in comparison to a lot of other stuff.

Welldone to the wee Girl Scouts who take the dolls in as part of their bronze award! Future Nurses in the making????

:yeah: :yeah: :nurse:

swelmorphis · Apr 29, 2008

I am a nurse manager in geriatric psych. The use of dolls can be part of "validation therapy". Instead of trying to redirect or reorient the patient to reality (which, if it can be done at all, is usually very short lived) it works better to "validate" where/what the patient is experiencing in their mind. Using dolls for patients who are "mothering" is reassuring.

gail323 · Apr 29, 2008

My mother-in-law was a resident of the nursing home where I worked at the time - she had Alzheimers. She told me that she had never had a doll of her own as a child, so that was what I bought for her. It brought her great comfort and I often found her sitting in her rocking chair, rocking her baby.

TigerGalLE, BSN, RN · Apr 29, 2008

We always get our demented old ladies stuffed animals.. They love them and they call them their babies.... I have a pt now on the floor that cries and yells out constantly if someone takes her teddy bear out of her bed... Hey I'll do whatever it takes to calm them down!

Tiger

danissa, LPN, LVN · Apr 29, 2008

I have such great respect for you all who work with the elderly. Taking such measures to comfort them only adds to that respect..you truly are angels! :saint:

NurseWillow · Apr 29, 2008

Thank you all so much. I think I can pull this off now. I just needed some ideas on wording for my Careplan. We have some really sweet residents who are very attached to their "babies". We have to remind them to put the "babies" down for a nap at meal time or they fuss over them to much to eat. I even have found little bits of meals snuck into pockets for the "baby" to eat. It's amazing how they care for these dolls. Thanks again for the input. :up: :nurse: ~Willow

YellowFinchFan · Apr 29, 2008

We recently had a sweet elderly woman (90's) who was demented but was almost still 100% with her ADLs - she held her pillow like a baby and would worry about her baby or hold her baby (pillow) while watching tv. It actually through a few nurses because she could answer most people appropriately until she start talking about the baby (some of the nurses were looking around room for "the baby"???) haha....

She probably would've loved a doll.....when she returned to her LTC facility.

thanks for sharing/interesting posts! :yeah: :redbeathe:redbeathe