What did I do with my memory dear?

Today we had a patient who has a list of complications, such as unmanaged diabetes, CHF and plenty of social issues (to name a few). This patient has a large problem list and a subsequent treatment plan to match, impairments we have been slowly working at over the last week. Over the sessions, regardless of patient education we would give, the same repetitive questions were arising, to us, and other staff on the ward. These questions and a couple of other verbal "idiosyncrasies" were a little tiresome, as it felt we weren't making head-way regarding education with the patient. After discussing this with our supervisor, it was concluded that the patient may in fact be displaying early signs of vascular dementia. She has subsequently been booked in for a full, comprehensive psychiatric assessment at the hospital to get a better and more accurate guide as to how she is doing cognitively. It will be interesting to find the result as she manages to hid her mental limitation quite well. In future sessions, I think we could break down her tasks (has struggled with tasks), repeat the exercises or activity, and not give her too much information. I hope these modifications are successful for the coming sessions.