- Take a history from a person presenting with cognitive complaints
- Take a collateral history from the family/carer/or informant, and understand its importance.
- Identify symptoms required to make a clinical diagnosis of dementia (based on the DSM IV diagnostic criteria)
- Establish a differential diagnosis for someone presenting with cognitive impairment.
- Plan initial investigations to help eliminate other causes of cognitive impairment and to help establish the likely dementia type.
- Plan, conduct and interpret cognitive assessment. Understand the advantages and disadvantages of assessment tools in dementia diagnosis.
- Be able to communicate a diagnosis of, dementia, delirium or depression, and its implications, to the patient and their family/carers.
- Use effective communication skills to interact with patients, families and carers.
- Understand the process and aims of family meetings in the management of dementia.
- Understand the usefulness of a long term care plan in the management of dementia.
- Explore legal and ethical issues in treating a patient with dementia, considering wills, advance care plans, consent, competency and end-of-life issues.
- Explore multidisciplinary care in the management of a Person With Dementia (PWD) and develop an understanding of how to access care services.
- Identify difficulties faced by PWD in accessing care and support services and how these might be overcome.
- Understand the need for, and ways of achieving, carer support throughout the journey of dementia.
