AAFP Updates Give Members New, Improved Cognitive Care Resources
March 20, 2024, News Staff — An updated AAFP Cognitive Care Kit gives family physicians, caregivers and family members new tools to care for people who may be experiencing or are at increased risk for conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
The updates are the latest products of an ongoing Academy effort to expand support for family physicians on the front lines of mental and behavioral health care, as well as patients and their caregivers — who are often unpaid family or friends. This includes recent CME activities, monographs and journal articles on Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Additional CME sessions on cognitive care in geriatrics, and neurology and behavioral health are expected by this summer.
The resources come as primary care physicians, who are often are the first to recognize signs of cognitive impairment and diagnose dementia, treat more older patients who have Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. About 5.8 million Americans currently have these conditions. That number is expected to reach 14 million by 2060, with Blacks, Hispanics and women among those most likely to be affected.
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The toolkit, which is free, divides resources into 10 general categories.
- Prevention contains resources for clinicians and patients to use when discussing ways to maintain cognitive health and reduce the risk of cognitive impairment.
- Index Visits features guidance on detecting and assessing cognitive impairment, along with questionnaires that family members or caregivers can complete during clinic visits.
- Cognitive Evaluation offers links to cognitive assessment tools, as well as related assessments on depression, anxiety and functional activities.
- Dianosis and Disclosure includes resources from the Alzheimer’s Association, the National Institute on Aging and other agencies on accurately diagnosing and assessing patients.
- Management: Mild to Severe assists clinicians and caregivers with checklists, workflows, fact sheets and other tools to provide support in the early stages of cognitive impairment.
- Management: Late Stage gives clinicians resources to aid in mid- to late-stage management of cognitive conditions, including information on assisted living, hospice care and quality of life.
- Driving and Safety helps physicians and family members address patient rights and responsibilities associated with cognitive impairment, driving, safety issues and elder abuse.
- Long-term Planning provides resources for patients, health care professionals and caregivers on advance care directives, medical orders, care choices, end-of-life-planning and other topics.
- Caregiver Resources offers information such as caregiver support, best practices for caring for people with Alzheimer’s disease and alternatives to nursing home care.
- Related Resources, geared primarily toward clinicians, contains tools and kits featuring different approaches to addressing and managing cognitive conditions.
For patient-facing information on cognitive care, family physicians are encouraged to visit the Academy’s companion site, familydoctor.org, which contains dozens of articles on Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, mental health and more.
The Cognitive Care Kit was originally developed by the AAFP in collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company. Updates were supported with funding from Eli Lilly, and resource promotion was supported via funding from Eisai Co., Ltd.
Members are encouraged to bookmark the kit to ensure access to the latest resources.