Water Cooler Ripley

8 tips to prevent dehydration by drinking water from your water cooler Ripley

Having a full glass of water all the time. Dehydration is a risk that lurks in the elderly and can have serious consequences. Nurse specialist geriatric medicine Simone Paulis conducts research into the dehydration of nursing home residents. How do you prevent a fluid deficiency?
Preventing dehydration in the elderly Dehydration or dehydration is common in the elderly. This has to do with changes in the body. With illness, fever, vomiting and diarrhea there is an increased risk of dehydration. People with cognitive impairment, who can no longer take care of themselves, are also at risk. Tap water vs filtered water.

Serious consequences

Nurse specialist in geriatric medicine Simone Paulis is conducting PhD research on dehydration in nursing home care. According to her, the biggest problem is that many healthcare professionals do not recognize a chronic fluid deficiency in time. While the consequences can be serious: thrombosis, bladder infections, respiratory infections, kidney stones and pressure ulcers and in the worst case: death. Preventing dehydration in the elderly is therefore very important. Better health with Prestige Water.

What can you do to prevent dehydration? Simone gives 8 tips:

1. Make it clear to drink enough from your water cooler Ripley

'It strikes me that the elderly often think that they drink enough, but if you keep asking, it appears that they do not reach the recommended amount for the elderly at 1700 cc per day. Older people also often know little about dehydration. '

2. Advise the elderly to drink small amounts from the water cooler Ripley more often during the day

"Drinking a large amount of water in one go will cause your stomach to expand, so you will not feel like eating or drinking."

3. Couple drinking with ADL moments

'For example, after a hot shower, where you often sweat and therefore lose moisture. Or make sure that someone always drinks something after brushing their teeth or consuming an extra glass during a meal or when taking medication. '

4. Provide a variety

'Make the consumption of moisture more attractive by alternating. For example coffee, tea, water, fruit juice, yogurt, fruit and vegetables. '

5. Be alert for fever

"Make sure that someone drinks at least half a litre per degree of fever more than usual."

6. Pay close attention to how much someone drinks

'Moisture lists in nursing homes are not always kept up to date, but they are a gauge for observing a change in fluid consumption. Make sure that you are alert to a change in drinking pattern and drinking quantity. Do you work in home care? Then you can also maintain a moisture list together with your client. In this way, you chart whether the client drinks enough and the client becomes aware of his fluid intake. '

7. Watch for behavioural change

"Is someone confused or drowsy? Then take a critical look at how much moisture someone receives in a day. "

8. Use resources

"Does anyone need a reminder to make sure he drinks enough?" Consider the use of a tool such as the Obli. This tool gives a signal when it is time to drink water from your water cooler Ripley. "

How do you recognize dehydration?

It is not easy to make this diagnosis in the elderly. You can recognize a client with a fluid deficiency mainly by (several of) these signals:

• The client is drowsy or confused (delirium), suffers from dizziness and falls quickly.
• Sometimes hard to understand. The client chokes quickly.
• Lowered blood pressure, fever, and constipation.
• The client complains about thirst, pees little and the urine is dark in colour; then there is already serious dehydration!
• The client loses more than 3% of body weight or more than 1 kg per day in a short period of time. An acute change in body weight can also indicate overfilling.
• Very dry tongue and mucous membranes.
• Less elastic skin (this is also a normal aging phenomenon), itching and skin infections.

What do you do in the event of dehydration?

It is important that in the event of dehydration, the shortage of moisture is supplemented. Drink more water from your water cooler Ripley. This can be done orally or when this no longer works, for example with an infusion.