Sensory Stimulation In Patients

Sensory stimulation also counts as a form of recommended treatment for patients in a vegetative state. This treatment may be used in an attempt to increase responsiveness in the patient. It involves stimulating the main senses, such as vision, hearing and smell. The treatment is in most cases conducted by a well trained healthcare specialist; however the patient’s family members are encouraged to take an active role. As already stated, since the aim of the treatment is to appeal to the sense, the examples of sensory stimulation may include the following: visual – where the patient would be shown pictures of friends and family, or they can be shown their favourite movie. Hearing – where family members will talk to them and tell them stories that they may react to, current events or simply play them their favourite music. Smell – where their favourite flowers would be placed in the room or the patient’s favourite perfume would be worn by someone. Lastly touch –where holding their hand or stroking their skin would be done. To date, there is still debate on the effectiveness of sensory stimulation, but it is still considered an advisable attempt (Demertzi et al. 2008).
In caring for patients in a vegetative state for example, …show more content…
This is because the chances of a patient recovering largely depends on a number of factors such as; the type of brain injury, the severity of the brain injury, the patient's age and how long they've been in the state for. Some patients improve progressively, whereas others stay in the vegetative state of consciousness for years. Yet many people never recover consciousness too. There are only isolated cases of people recovering consciousness after being in a vegetative state for several years. The few people who do recover consciousness after these times usually have severe disabilities caused by the damage to their brain (Laureys,