Dementia

...ba href=/dementia/a/b in care homes are given too many sedatives because staff are not given enough training.

Medical experts found staff regularly resorted to giving drugs to calm people with ba href=/dementia/a/b showing disruptive behaviour.

However, the proportion of residents given sedatives was almost halved when staff were given adequate support and training.

'People with ba href=/dementia/a/b are often prescribed anti-psychotic drugs without knowing what causes their behaviour' Professor Clive Ballard Look here too...

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Join the debate » More than 400 people in twelve specialist nursing homes in London, Newcastle and Oxford were studied.

"People with ba href=/dementia/a/b are often prescribed anti-psychotic drugs without knowing what causes their behaviour," study leader Professor Clive Ballard said.

"Educating and training staff increases their understanding of patients' needs, decreasing the need to prescribe drugs." The Alzheimer's Society, which supported the study, said often unlicensed anti-psychotics can cause death or strokes.

Chief executive, Neil Hunt, said three quarters of people in ...

...ba href=/dementia/a/b and noted that the ones who liked talk shows and soap operas best were the ones with the least agile minds.

Fans of soaps and TV confessionals were outperformed by their peers when it came to testing their memory, attention and mental sharpness.

Does this means that daytime TV makes you dumb?

Or is it that people less willing to be challenged by, say, news shows are drawn to Neighbours?

Dr.

Fogel has stated out this doesn't mean there's a direct link between brainless daytime shows and actually being stupid.

Indeed, might it be argued that part of the pull in watching Trisha, Jeremy Kyle and Oprah is knowing that there is someone dumber and less well off than you – a comforting thought for the long-term injured, the institutionalised, journalists and other daytime TV gawpers.

There could be a connection between the shows we choose to watch and our own cognitive ability.

It is fascinating stuff that demands more work.

What, for instance, happens to people who watch Noel Edmonds on the utterly brainless Deal Or No Deal?

Are they more mentally negligible than fans of Countdown, who like watching sums?

Or are all daytime viewers of a type, sat at home watching daytime telly and wondering why they don’t make shows like Pebble Mill and Quincy any more?

For his part, Dr Fogel thinks that when consulting older patients about their state of wellness, doctors should ask them about their favourite TV shows.

Answering The Daily Politics ...

...ba href=/dementia/a/b in care homes are given too many sedatives because staff are inadequately trained, medical experts warned today.

Researchers found that better staff training led to less reliance on sedatives to calm people with ba href=/dementia/a/b showing disruptive behaviour.

Twelve specialist nursing homes in London, Newcastle and Oxford were studied as part of the test, published in today's British Medical Journal.

In homes where training and support was given to staff, the proportion of residents taking sedatives (23%) was significantly lower than in the other homes (42.1%).

The Alzheimer's Society, which supported the study, said often unlicensed anti-psychotics can cause death or strokes.

Chief executive, Neil Hunt, said 75% of people in care homes have ba href=/dementia/a/b, but only 10% of staff have adequate ba href=/dementia/a/b-care training.

"An urgent review of statutory training requirements is needed to avoid putting residents at risk," he added.

"Disruptive or challenging behaviour is distressing for staff, people with ba href=/dementia/a/b and their families.

"However these unlicensed treatments are often not suitable for them and can have adverse effects.

This research shows that training staff makes a real difference." Professor Clive Ballard, director of research and co-author of the study, added: "People with ba href=/dementia/a/b are often prescribed anti-psychotic drugs without knowing what causes their behaviour.

"This is an important study as it shows that educating and training staff increases their understanding of pa...