This M focuses on preventing, identifying, treating, and managing depression, dementia, and delirium across care settings.
Depression is not a normal part of aging. Depression is a treatable medical problem that affects many older adults. However, it is under-recognized and under-treated in older adults.
REACH has created a handout for patients and care partners on how to identify signs and symptoms of depression and provides possible treatment options. Please share with your patients and let us know if you’d like to order hard copy handouts.
REACH has created a handout in Spanish for patients and care partners on how to identify signs and symptoms of depression and provides possible treatment options. Please share with your patients and let us know if you’d like to order hard copy handouts.
The Geriatric Depression Scale, or GDS, is a validated questionnaire useful as a screening tool in the clinical setting to facilitate assessment of depression in older adults.
The Patient Health Questionnaire, or PHQ-9, can help healthcare professionals rate the severity of depressive symptoms and make the diagnosis of depression.
SAMHSA has developed a resource page for those serving older adults on behavioral and mental health which includes helpful guides on topics such as emotional health and suicide and treating substance abuse.
REACH has created a handout on how to respond in a helpful way to those you care for with behavioral symptoms of dementia. Please share with your patients and let us know if you’d like to order hard copy handouts.
REACH has created a handout in Spanish on how to respond in a helpful way to those you care for with behavioral symptoms of dementia. Please share with your patients and let us know if you’d like to order hard copy handouts.
When working with older patients and persons affected by dementia, be sure to share patient education and support services resources that can help persons better understand dementia and behavioral symptoms, and access care services for issues such as home-based care and caregiver support. Explore our Care Partner Resources page for many useful programs and services for family care partners.
The Alzheimer’s Association’s Cognitive Assessment Toolkit provides a guide to detect cognitive impairment quickly and efficiently during the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit. An informant can also help in this process as someone who can attest to a patient’s change in memory, language, or function over time, can provide valuable feedback about changes the patient has experienced.
The MiniCog is a validated screening tool for the detection of cognitive impairment in the primary care setting.
The Montreal Cognitive Assessment, or MoCA , is a validated test that helps healthcare professionals detect cognitive impairment in its early stages.
It is important for the healthcare professional to be able to differentiate between dementia and delirium, and in order to make a diagnosis of dementia, delirium must be ruled out. These resources help explain the difference.
REACH has created a handout on how to differentiate between delirium and dementia. Please share with your patients and care partners. Let us know if you’d like to order hard copy handouts.
REACH has created a handout in Spanish on how to differentiate between delirium and dementia. Please share with your patients and care partners. Let us know if you’d like to order hard copy handouts.
Geriatrics Care Online explains the basic facts on and different types of delirium.
John Hopkins Medicine provides information to help providers determine, assess, and treat symptoms of dementia and delirium in older adults.
This article, published in the Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences in 2017, provides evidence-based practices on the expedient diagnosis and management of delirium.
The Tallahassee Senior Center’s award winning UPSLIDE Program teamed up with REACH to create a Facilitator Guide for their Friends Connection Groups.
If medications are necessary, this M focuses on using age-friendly medications that do not affect a person’s care goals, their mobility, and their mentation. Many
Caring for older adults in a clinical setting provides unique opportunities and challenges. Below are clinical tools and trainings to help the healthcare professional provide excellent geriatric healthcare.
