Minimizing the Risk of Resident-to-Resident Mistreatment in Post-Acute and Long-Term Care

During a recent clinical visit to a memory care unit in an assisted living facility, I observed two patients begin to have a verbal altercation that could have ended badly were it not for the quick identification and action by the nursing assistants. A male patient, who had a delusional disorder in the context of his dementia, believed that the staff were tampering with the food and attempted to convince a female peer of his beliefs. The female patient shouted back, “You don’t know what you are talking about.