Enhanced Screening and Treatment Strategies for Alzheimer's Disease

Program Description:

For physicians who value the highest standards of clinical care, the Massachusetts General Hospital Academy provides world-renowned education that improves clinical practice and leads to better lives for patients and their families.

This program helps enhance your standards of care in screening and treatment for Alzheimer's disease (AD). It focuses on changes in behavior and function, co-morbidities, genetic and psychosocial counseling, neurobiologic research, use of lab tests and imaging studies, and pharmacologic treatment strategies

THIS COURSE IS OFFERED THROUGH THE MASS GENERAL HOSPITAL (MGH) PSYCHIATRY ACADEMY. For full program information, please click on “BEGIN” and follow the next click through to reach this program site where you will register, review the content, take the test and receive credit. You will have the opportunity of choosing from 2 individual CME courses on this topic

Activity Objectives:

After completing this program, participants should be able to:

• Understand the significance of abrupt changes in behavior, cognition, arousal or function in a patient with dementia and AD.


• Identify the particular vulnerabilities and safety considerations that exist in AD, such as falls, as well as medical comorbidities that are associated with AD.


• Recognize the role of genetic counseling and psychosocial counseling and support for patients and families with AD.


• Describe the process neurologists use to select ancillary testing, advanced imaging techniques (e.g. FDG-PET), and spinal fluid analysis in aiding the diagnosis of AD.


• Understand the basic neurobiology of dementia.


• Perform an efficient screening and dementia assessment in a busy clinical practice.


• Utilize appropriate laboratory tests, imaging studies, and neuropsychological testing for the diagnosis of dementia.


• Describe the pharmacologic management strategies including the roles of cholinesterase inhibitors, memantine, and antipsychotic medication for dementia and AD.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

WINDOWS PC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
266-MHz Pentium II; Windows 98 or higher; 64 MB RAM; 800 x 600 screen resolution set for “High Color (16-Bit)”; Macromedia Flash Player 6 or higher.

MACINTOSH^® SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
Power Mac g3 at 300 MHz; System 8.5 or higher (excluding Mac OSX); 96 MB RAM; 20 MB minimum hard disk space available; 800 x 600 screen resolution set to “Thousands of Colors”; Macromedia Flash Player 6 or higher.