Rationale for Topic:
Research has documented that persons with dementia and their caregivers encounter a variety of barriers when they seek a diagnosis, including the time consuming and expensive nature of the process and the difficulty in finding a physician trained to make a comprehensive assessment (Connell & Gallant, 1996). Obstacles to providing a specific diagnosis of a dementing illness have also been reported by physicians. For example, Boise, Camicioli, Morgan, Rose and Congleton (1999) report that physicians fail to recognize and respond to symptoms of dementia and hesitate to provide a diagnosis because they do not view it as a priority and feel they do not have sufficient time to complete a comprehensive assessment and diagnosis in the context of a typical office visit. In addition, some physicians may fail to make a specific dementia diagnosis because they are uncomfortable and inexperienced in dealing with diagnostic uncertainty (Beisecker, Chrisman, & Wright, 1997;Foster, 2001).

In the past few years, a number of innovative projects have sought to overcome some of the barriers faced by families and physicians in caring for persons with dementia. In a pre-conference workshop, co-sponsored by Alzheimer Disease Research Center Education Cores and the National Alzheimer's Association the results of selected well-designed and evaluated projects will be presented including: The Practicing Physician Education Project (Hartford Foundation), Partnering with Your Doctor to Improve Communications (Alzheimer's Association) and the Chronic Care Networks for Alzheimer's Disease Project. A panel of physicians and other experts will critique the models -- looking specifically at the curriculum, dissemination and evaluation of each to further develop and test educational approaches to improving physician care for persons with dementia. .

Statement of Purpose:
The goal of this preconference workshop is to highlight effective educational strategies for changing physician behavior and recommend next steps to further develop and test these educational approaches to improving physician care for persons with dementia.

Course Objectives:
1) To assess the gaps and challenges of providing good clinical care for persons with dementia.

2) To learn about promising models of well-designed and evaluated educational strategies for changing physician behavior.

3) To develop recommendations for further development and testing of educational models.

4) To identify potential collaborations for future physician education projects.