As America’s population grows older and more patients are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and related dementias, the challenge of providing timely, effective, and comprehensive care grows. One of the key clinicians poised to play a major role in management and care for cognitive decline is the primary care provider (PCP). I have a new piece out in STAT News today looking at the role that PCPs will play in this growing crisis and ways that their training can be improved.
Many PCPs don’t feel comfortable assessing cognition. A 2020 survey conducted by the Alzheimer’s Association found that 40% of PCPs are “never” or “only sometimes” comfortable diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias and relaying those diagnoses to patients. In the same survey, almost all PCPs said they wait for their patients to bring up cognitive concerns rather than proactively discussing them.
Read the whole piece here.
Research for this article was supported by Arnold Ventures.
