Alzheimer's treatment in nursing homes: room for improvement.
Managing Alzheimer's disease (AD) continues to challenge long-term care physicians and administrators. Although pharmacologic treatment can substantially benefit AD patients in the nursing home setting, common misconceptions and skepticism about its value are barriers to treatment use. Aggressive treatment for AD maximizes patient function and independence and is cost-effective. Herein we discuss state-of-the-art treatment of AD with a view to providing nursing home physicians a framework from which to make treatment decisions.
Bright-Long
Lory
L
Maria Regina Residence, 1725 Brentwood Road, Building 1, Brentwood, NY 11717, USA. lorycmd2@hotmail.com
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000465:Algorithms; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003625:Data Collection; D003663:Decision Trees; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008559:Memantine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000458:organization & administration*; D018579:Patient Selection; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017749:Total Quality Management / Q000458:organization & administration; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate; D008559:Memantine