Cognitive Impairment Screening in Senior Citizens

I t anile you three times yesterday you had a doctors meshing and that I was going to come pick you up. Judy shuffled confirm to the kitchen to double moderate her calendar, followed by her daughter. Both of them stopped in their tracks, taking in the strip kitchen. Her daughter asked what had happened in here, just now Judy couldnt answer her. She was beside herself. Who could have possibly mixed-up into her home and torn her kitchen apart? dementedness has re bed its ugly head. Phil unspoiled precious to pay for his Reuben. He had been out and about running errands and was very hungry.The vernal man behind the counter had tried to charge his debit mailing more than a few times, but to no avail the menu was denied each time. Phil began to re bathroomt his day to himself. Then It dawned on him, he had unappealing his bank account only a few hours before. Phil was getting rest slight to move down to Texas with his son due to his recent diagnosis of Alchemists. Phil was a regular at the dell and the manager gave him the Reuben on the ho commit. One of the worse things about this rotten affection Is losing the ability of taking dread of myself (Phil Rolled, 2010). further frustrating for me, non to remember what I motivation to do to Just feel akin I still can live and cut care of myself. This Is a common frustration press outed by those twinge dis residues like monomania and Dementia is a courtly dis alleviate for the basketball team one million million million population like Phil and Judy living tit the disease in the joined States, for Phil and Judy family, and for the government. Earlier spotting and interjection of aberration would provide Phil and Judy the time to plan for the future and get the utmost benefit from avail fit treatments.Earlier catching and intervention of the disease would lessen the future financial burden on health care. cognitive impairment screening would ascertain if early intervention is needed. Cogni tive impairment screening in senior citizens must run out practice. Dementia is used as an umbrella term describing a all-inclusive range of symptoms that include a progressive decline in psychogenic ability severe enough to interfere with daily bread and butter. Dementia lento robs Phil and Judy of their memories. At first, they experience problems with their short-term memory such as think an appointment.As time passes, the disease steals more and more of the brain. Phil and Judy eventually testament not be able to respond to their environment, nor impart they be able to express when they are in pain, or hungry, or thirsty, or when they have to go to the bathroom. A true diagnosis is rare, because dementia affects every nonpareil differently. There is no ere. Dementia is considered an grey persons disease. Its normal to forget where you left your keys when youre 65 years old or to forget where you parked the car. Contrary to popular belief, dementia is not a normal part of aging.Alchemists is the most common type of dementia, but at that place are m both other types. One of the biggest risk factors in developing dementia is a persons age. Unless whatsoever star has stumbled onto the fountain of youth, no one can change or hide from their age. Persons age 65 and sometime(a) have a greater risk of suffering from dementia. Every fiver years those Hansen double, so by the time Judy is 85 years old her chance is nearly 50 percent. Today, there is an estimated five million people living with a dementia related disease in the unite States. (What is Dementia, n. D. With the first wave of Baby Boomers already at age 68, the cost of dementia in 40 years is expected to exceed $1. 2 trillion (Alchemists Fact and Figures, n. D. ). In 2010, the worldwide costs associated with dementia equaled one percent of global GAP. One percent doesnt seem like untold on a global scale. However, if dementia care was a party Dementia Inc. Loud be considered the worlds largest by annual revenue. (GE Healthcare, 2014) The Alchemists tie-in predicts the tote up number of dementia-related cases in the United States give reach 14 million in the year 2050.Our healthcare system and the Medicare program are already strained. As the Baby Boomers get older, are we going to be able to weather the suffocating financial squeeze this disease is going to form? Phials family is lucky to catch the disease before it has progressed too far, his son will be able to take care of him at home until the disease progresses further. The average cost for caring for someone at home is $12,500 per year. As the disease robs Phil of more brain function, more skilled care is required. Families can be billed anywhere from $42,000 to $72,000 per year.Victims and their families can easily deplete their nest egg on aesculapian care and then turn to Medicare/Medicaid and tax payers to help with the remaining costs. Judy whitethorn have already passed the opportune time to eit her stay at home with her daughter or have in-home care and ultimately needs to go live either in an help living or nursing themselves for the price of skilled care. Senator Tom Harkin utter The only way we are truly going to save Medicare from failure when the baby boomers retire is to reduce the length and incidence of expensive illnesses like Alchemists. Harkin, Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies recently held a hearing in February of 2014 to inspect the financial impact of Alchemists in the States (Bethlehem, 1998). But how do we reduce the length of disease that has a problematical diagnosis and no cure in the foreseeable future? We need to be looking at intervention opportunities. All things considered, some will argue that dementia-related diseases are only a small part of a much bigger problem, dismissing the idea that the disease could bankrupt Medicare. Projections of the frequency of a di sease 30 years from now should be taken with a grain of salt, said Gail Wiliness, chairman of the federal Physician Payment canvass Commission (Bethlehem, 1998). We dont know how the frequency of other disease will dress up or fall, and how that will affect longevity. She went on to commend the fact that medical search has allowed people to live longer lives and improve quality of fife. However, she questioned whether the research has saved us any money.Wiliness almost sounds like she is agreeing with another seldom expressed view that concludes if we devote more money and effort into decision a cure for dementia that will only prolong the life of the elderly by a few more years. Crudely put, if you dont die of complications from dementia, youll still die of something else. Understandably, we cant avoid death. That is an inevitable fact of life. If we as a community could act early, if we as a community could provide intervention, what bod of standard would e set for the rest o f the nation?Earlier detection of dementia could provide to begin with intervention, delay the impact of the disease, and prevent material health events in the future. Does that process sound familiar? In 2013, The United States Preventive Services Task Force recommends women get a mammogram every 2 years starting at age 50 to sustentation proactive about breast cancer (Mammograms Fact Sheet). Furthermore, the same business force recommends oscilloscopes in adults beginning at age 50 and inveterate until age 75 (at different intervals depending on family history) o prevent colon cancer.Curious, I went to the U. S. Preventive Services Task Force website on Recommendations for Adults. I found preventative information on 19 different cancers and 11 different types of magnetic core disease. I found nothing on dementia or Alchemists. Nothing. Alchemists disease is the 6th leading cause of death in the United States (Leading Causes of Death, 2011). The top five include heart disease , cancer, chronic lower berth respiratory disease, and stroke. All five of those diseases all have preventative measures and are routinely screened for in our annual heck-ups with our doctors.What needs to be addressed though is why there is more prevalence on detecting cancers and heart disease? John Morris, professor of neurology and co-director of the Alchemists disease research focus at Washington Universitys School of Medicine, believes we should find a way to mention between the normal aging process and early dementia and condition more interest (Bethlehem, 1998). This is where a cognitive estimation could help couple that gap. A cognitive assessment is an examination that is used to determine someones train of cognitive function.A group of 2,719 elderly residents in Almagest County, Minnesota were 2014). The doctors conducting the case knew from earlier studies that elderly residents would sometimes have a cognitive assessment that indicated some impairment, but when e xamined again later, the impairment had lessened or completely deceased away. During this trial, 40% of people with a mild cognitive impairment reverted back to a more normal state. At the end of the study, the doctors found that 65% of those reverts went on to develop dementia (Berliner, 2014).While this study shows that not everyone who has cognitive impairments whitethorn o on to develop dementia, the doctors were certainly more aware of any changes. Unfortunately, there isnt one type of assessment test that is better than the others. However, the Alchemists Association website has recommended several cognitive assessment tools that can be performed in less that or around five minutes in a simple care or community setting. Not only are there patient assessment tools, there are informant tools for family members and close friends to use as well. Utilizing these assessments Just once isnt going to do the trick.Then again, imagine f the U. S. Preventative Services Task Force recom mended a cognitive assessment screening every two-three years starting at age 65. Cognitive impairment screening must become practice for senior citizens. The assessments may not garner conclusive data, but over time we will be able to create a clearer picture as to how dementia slowly progresses. From that picture, we will develop earlier intervention techniques to help ease not only the financial strain on Phil and Judy and their families, but ease the frustration felt by dementias victims.