Saturday, April 4, 2009

The Key To Keeping Older Adults At Home Could Be Recognizing Cognitive Impairment

Doctors, nurses and others who provide health care to older adults are often so focused on acute medical problems that they may miss symptoms of cognitive impairment. A unique educational summit to be held in April and May in Indianapolis focuses on the problem and will enhance the skills of these health-care providers in recognizing and managing cognitive impairment. The goal is to enable older adults to remain in their homes.
According to Malaz Boustani, M.D., associate professor of medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine and a Regenstrief Institute research scientist, more than half of Americans with cognitive impairment are not recognized as having the conditions when they go to a hospital and more than three-quarters are not recognized as having cognitive impairment by their primary care physicians. The result is that less than 10 percent receive medications appropriate to their level of cognitive impairment and approximately one-quarter receive medications which are inappropriate.…..

The Key To Keeping Older Adults At Home Could Be Recognizing Cognitive Impairment

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