Clinician Partners Network (CPN)
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia affecting over 6.2 million Americans and around 50 million worldwide. Without a cure, within a generation the number of cases in the US will reach 13 million. The disease is under-recognized, under-diagnosed, and under-treated leading to poorer patient outcomes, substantial declines in function, diminished quality of life, increased caregiver burden, grief, and depression, and increased societal costs. These deficits lend themselves to updating a core fund of knowledge to increase awareness and effect practice change in three targeted areas: 1) improved screening measures for easier office diagnosis; 2) the incorporation of biological markers in clinical practice; and 3) current and future therapeutics.
To address these unmet needs, we created the CCBH Clinical Partners Network (CPN) to provide two options for health provider training.
Option 1: A 2-day on-site internship working with our collaborative care model of physicians, researchers, nurses, social workers, and physical therapists.
Option 2: Distance learning via a web-based learning tool.
Participants will register and complete a required core module providing critical information on the prevalence, epidemiology, and impact of cognitive disorders; an overview of diagnosis and treatment; and information about the clinical and research services at the Comprehensive Center for Brain Health at the University of Miami. Additional modules will provide state-of-the-art information on:
- office evaluation and screening
- differential diagnosis and neuropathology
- use of biological markers to improve diagnosis and disease outcomes
- current pharmacology options
- non-pharmacological approaches and caregiver support; and
- research advances in Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders.
The CPN program is a mix of didactic and case-based applications with lecture, video, patient interviews, neuropathology, and imaging. Pre-tests will be required with each module, followed by a post-test and practice change questions for outcomes.