Caring for older people with dementia in hospital. Part two: strategies

Nursing students often care for patients with dementia during practice placements and the quality of their experience is important.

To explore adult nursing students' experiences of caring for older people with dementia in acute hospital settings.

Four focus groups were conducted at one university in England. The data were analysed thematically and this article presents the care strategies that students adopted.

The students' strategies were: getting to know the person and building a relationship, involvement of families, flexible and creative care approaches, use of comfort and communication.

The strategies were congruent with person-centred care but students often had to negotiate these approaches to fit in with hospital routines.