WOMEN ’S BRAIN HEALTH SERIES: The Critics Don’t Count

Stories of the devastation faced by patients and families with Alzheimer’s disease abound. Economic costs are consequential and the social and emotional costs, incalculable. Thankfully, I’ve not been touched by Alzheimer’s but like most people am aware of the suffering it causes. For that reason, I was delighted to be asked by a clinical society to help them solve a problem: not enough specialists are available to diagnose and adequately treat the growing number of patients. Primary care clinicians need to join in. The specialists had a three-step plan to make that a reality: In the first step, specialists in psychiatry and neurology reviewed Alzheimer’s practice guidelines, tailoring them for primary care. In the second step, specialists and primary care clinicians – in Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Nursing and Social Work – met to review the tailored guidelines to assure they were easy to follow. In the third step, the revised guidelines were made widely available to primary care clinical groups in medicine, nursing and social work. Even families were informed, to help them participate better as care partners. You’ve seen these guidelines, right? Actually, that was a trick question. No, you didn’t see them, despite the fact that step two created an innovation – one that could benefit all clinical practice guidelines – not just those for Alzheimer’s. Here’s what happened. At the start of the day, as the Chairman reviewed the project, primary ...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Alzheimer’s Disease Brain Health Women's Health Source Type: blogs