Alzheimer Disease and Dementias: Early Detection and Care Planning
Course #99090 - $18 -
- Participation Instructions
- Review the course material online or in print.
- Complete the course evaluation.
- Review your Transcript to view and print your Certificate of Completion. Your date of completion will be the date (Pacific Time) the course was electronically submitted for credit, with no exceptions. Partial credit is not available.
Alzheimer disease and other forms of dementia are complex conditions that impact cognitive function and daily life. Early detection and diagnosis are crucial for effective management and improving quality of life. Key concepts covered in this course include recognizing early warning signs, utilizing cognitive assessment tools like the MMSE and MoCA, and understanding both pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatments. Developing comprehensive care plans and involving caregivers in the process are essential for providing holistic care and staying informed about emerging treatments and ongoing research is vital for advancing dementia care. By integrating these key concepts, healthcare professionals can better support patients and their families through the ongoing and evolving challenges of dementia.
This course is designed for physicians, PAs, and nursing professionals who are involved in the care of patients who have or may develop dementia.
The purpose of this course is to provide healthcare professionals with a clear understanding of Alzheimer disease and other dementias, including early signs, stages, and progression, in order to support effective early diagnosis, care planning, and management that improves patients' quality of life.
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:
- Identify the warning signs and symptoms of Alzheimer disease and other forms of dementia.
- Recognize the importance of early detection and diagnosis of dementia.
- Recognize a variety of tools to assess a patient's cognition.
- Identify cognitive assessment and care planning billing codes.
- Identify current treatments available for patients with dementia.
- Apply appropriate communication techniques for discussing memory concerns with patients and their caregivers.
Candace Pierce, DNP, RN, CNE, COI, is a nurse leader committed to ensuring nurses are well-prepared and offered abundant opportunities and resources to enhance their skills acquisition and confidence at the bedside. With 15 years in nursing, she has worked at the bedside, in management, and in nursing education. She has demonstrated expertise and scholarship in innovation and design thinking in health care and education, and collaborative efforts within and outside of healthcare. Scholarship endeavors include funded grants, publications, and presentations. As a leader, Dr. Pierce strives to empower others to create and deploy ideas and embrace their professional roles as leaders, change agents, and problem solvers. In her position as the lead nurse planner for Elite, she works as a project engineer with subject matter experts to develop evidence-based best practices in continuing education for nurses and other healthcare professionals.
Contributing faculty, Candace Pierce, DNP, RN, CNE, COI, has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
John M. Leonard, MD
Mary Franks, MSN, APRN, FNP-C
The division planners have disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
Sarah Campbell
The Director of Development and Academic Affairs has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
The purpose of NetCE is to provide challenging curricula to assist healthcare professionals to raise their levels of expertise while fulfilling their continuing education requirements, thereby improving the quality of healthcare.
Our contributing faculty members have taken care to ensure that the information and recommendations are accurate and compatible with the standards generally accepted at the time of publication. The publisher disclaims any liability, loss or damage incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents. Participants are cautioned about the potential risk of using limited knowledge when integrating new techniques into practice.
It is the policy of NetCE not to accept commercial support. Furthermore, commercial interests are prohibited from distributing or providing access to this activity to learners.
Supported browsers for Windows include Microsoft Internet Explorer 9.0 and up, Mozilla Firefox 3.0 and up, Opera 9.0 and up, and Google Chrome. Supported browsers for Macintosh include Safari, Mozilla Firefox 3.0 and up, Opera 9.0 and up, and Google Chrome. Other operating systems and browsers that include complete implementations of ECMAScript edition 3 and CSS 2.0 may work, but are not supported. Supported browsers must utilize the TLS encryption protocol v1.1 or v1.2 in order to connect to pages that require a secured HTTPS connection. TLS v1.0 is not supported.
The role of implicit biases on healthcare outcomes has become a concern, as there is some evidence that implicit biases contribute to health disparities, professionals' attitudes toward and interactions with patients, quality of care, diagnoses, and treatment decisions. This may produce differences in help-seeking, diagnoses, and ultimately treatments and interventions. Implicit biases may also unwittingly produce professional behaviors, attitudes, and interactions that reduce patients' trust and comfort with their provider, leading to earlier termination of visits and/or reduced adherence and follow-up. Disadvantaged groups are marginalized in the healthcare system and vulnerable on multiple levels; health professionals' implicit biases can further exacerbate these existing disadvantages.
Interventions or strategies designed to reduce implicit bias may be categorized as change-based or control-based. Change-based interventions focus on reducing or changing cognitive associations underlying implicit biases. These interventions might include challenging stereotypes. Conversely, control-based interventions involve reducing the effects of the implicit bias on the individual's behaviors. These strategies include increasing awareness of biased thoughts and responses. The two types of interventions are not mutually exclusive and may be used synergistically.