Not an article, or peer studied review. Just my take after 8-9 months of battling this virus in a nursing home.
It is a well known fact that Covid 19 is causing confusion/ams even in non dementia patients. The problem is worse in dementia patients, because patients become so confused/agitated, they may refuse to eat /take meds, drink fluids, pull out their IV lines, have multiple falls. We can't restrain patients in nursing homes, I honestly believe that these patients should be either in acute care, or Covid units in nursing homes should operate by different standards.
We have lost so many residents at the last wave (none in this wave so far thank God). These were patients who were otherwise physically stable, but suffered of dementia.
I don't know what the answer to this is , but If I could change things , I would definitely change the status quo in LTC/SNF and also , hospitals so easily discharging elderly patients , sending them back to SNF , knowing we cant even keep them free of falls at the worse time of their life.
I apologize if this comes across as a word salad, English is not my native language/was born abroad.
3 things I would change at a minimum, allow restrains to keep patients safe, increase staffing, give staff enough PPE and time to care for Covid patients, who can decline so quickly and so easily.
