Diagnosis

STAGING DEMENTIA

Brief Cognitive Rating Scale (BCRS) --> Average the scores

               On a scale of 0 (nothing is wrong) to 7 (non-verbal, can't take care of yourself)

               Good because it’s quick

--> Global Deterioration Scale (GDS)

Also ABCD (Arizona Battery of Communication Disorders)

               Can span over multiple days

FLCI (Functional Linguistic Cognitive ___)

               --> Good because of low level dementia communication

               Working on greetings (“hello”, “goodbye”)

DIAGNOSIS

Genetic testing

               Risk Genes

                              APOE-e4 is the strongest, but testing is controversial

                              Only tells you if you’re at risk, not if you’ll actually develop it

               Deterministic Genes

                              Autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s disease (ADAD) affects >5% of AD patients

TREATMENT

Can’t fix your memory, we know that

But we can give you aids to help you remember the date/year/etc.

               Maybe they can go home

Set up a care plan for the facility staff to understand how to handle them

               Biggest battle in health care, staff don’t understand dementia

               They get frustrated with the patients when they patients don’t understand direction

Mostly treat the symptoms, not the causes

               Medications for memory loss, sleep changes, behavioral differences