Do care provider practice partners have positive impacts on the treatment and management of dementia among elderly patients? Problem Statement

Do care provider practice partners have positive impacts on the treatment and management of dementia among elderly patients? Problem Statement

Do care provider practice partners have positive impacts on the treatment and management of dementia among elderly patients?

Problem Statement

Primary care treatment standards for dementia patients mandate practitioners to ameliorate cognitive and non-cognitive symptoms while maintaining the patient’s quality of life. As a rule, this process is highly dependent on the practitioner’s capacity to support and educate the patient and/or his family on key disease management factors including emotional stability and physical safety. Judge et al. (2019) add that commendable care necessitates connections between patients, families, referral medical specialists, and social/communal services. Unfortunately, the patients’ cognitive decline triggers behavioral disturbances that result in increased disability and caregiver burnout, burden, and eventually, anxiety/depression. These challenges are magnified by high clinical costs due to early institutionalization. These issues include increased reliance on the patients’ families, role shifting from curing to caring, behavioral and biological complexity of the condition, and insufficient knowledge and resources necessary for treatment.

Dementia is a largely misunderstood phenomenon. Such a bold claim is deeply embedded on common industry trends including the lack of concise diagnostic tools and the complex interactions between the primary care physicians and the patients as well as their families. In the wake of such a realization, practitioners should have a lucid understanding of how their practice impacts the outcomes of care despite the systemic inefficiencies. They should know how to leverage resources and skills at their disposal to improve the type of care delivered to dementia patients. As highlighted earlier, physicians’ roles in dementia treatment are usually heightened during their interaction with patients, their families, and the healthcare system (American Diabetes Association, 2017). This implies that they should foster clarity throughout the diagnosis, treatment, and management phases. Fundamentally, this process must involve the provision of emotional support and service linkage. By now, it is obvious that physician care practice is at the backbone of dementia treatment and management. Therefore, these practitioners should know how to capitalize on what they have to achieve what they have not. A qualitative exploration of physician sentiments on this matter will go a long way in affirming the preceding hypothesis.

References

American Diabetes Association. (2017). Standards of medical care in diabetes—2017 abridged for primary care providers. Clinical diabetes: a publication of the American Diabetes Association, 35(1), 5.

Judge, D., Roberts, J., Khandker, R. K., Ambegaonkar, B., & Black, C. M. (2019). Physician Practice Patterns Associated with Diagnostic Evaluation of Patients with Suspected Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease. International Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 2019.