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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Primary care physicians' knowledge and behavior related to Alzheimer's disease | | Author(s) | Courtney J Brown, Elizabeth J Mutran, Philip D Sloane |
| Journal title | Journal of Applied Gerontology, vol 17, no 4, December 1998 |
| Pages | pp 462-479 |
| Keywords | Dementia ; General practitioners ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | A national sample of primary care physicians from the American Medical Association (AMA) database was surveyed to examine primary care physician knowledge and physician practices related to Alzheimer's disease (AD). A previously validated instrument, the University of Alabama at Birmingham Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge Test for Health Professionals, was used to assess physician knowledge. The survey also included questions regarding the frequency of performing diagnostic, treatment, and support behaviours for Alzheimer's patients and families. Scores on the knowledge portion of the questionnaire varied widely, with internists and family practitioners scoring better than general practitioners (GPs), and younger physicians scoring higher than older physicians. Overall, primary care physicians made few new diagnoses and infrequently performed behaviours related to the diagnostic process, treatment and recommendation of support services. Weak positive associations were found between physician level of knowledge and six of the nine AD practice behaviours investigated. Implications of these findings are discussed, and strategies to improve knowledge of physicians caring for people with AD are outlined. (AKM). |
| Accession Number | CPA-990104404 A |
| Classmark | EA: QT6: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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