My SMART goal for this semester was to further my knowledge base on de-escalation techniuques in patients with advanced dementia. To complete this goal, I was placed with patients who had various levels of dementia and made it a priority to apply these techniques to my practice. I used evidence based practice with my patients after reviewing numerous articles on the care and safety strategies for aggressive and confused individuals. What helped me accomplish my goal was keeping a journal with all my interactions with my patients (disclaimer: no patient identifiers were placed in the journal). This allowed me to look back on each interaction and see what interventions proved helpful in maintaining or improving my patient's moods. I found that most just want someone to interact with. Aggitation stems from confusion and fear most times and this can be changed with even the slightest compassion and empathy by just sitting with your patient and making them feel heard. This was an important goal for me to acheive becuase it gave me so much insight past the diagnosis of dementia and allowed for a more holistic appraoch to their care. 

The population in this unit had a variety of patient diagnoses, such as stroke, mobility challenges, dialysis, chronic illnesses. This allowed me to have a broader scope of knowledge when researching and providing care for my patients.