<< Back

2022 Pilot Awards for Global Brain Health Leaders (GBHI)

Dementia Diagnosis Training Project in Ecuador

Can an online training program improve the way physicians diagnose dementia in underserved countries?

Maria Unaucho, M.D.
Global Brain Health Institute,UCSF
Loja, Ecuador



Background

Because Alzheimer’s and other dementias are progressive disorders, it is important to diagnose them at an early stage, when treatments can be most effective. Typically, primary care physicians (PCPs) are the medical professionals best equipped to make an early dementia diagnosis. Many PCPs, however, lack sufficient knowledge of dementia and often miss the early symptoms that can prompt a neurological examination. This lack of knowledge can lead to missed diagnoses, poorer medical outcomes for people with dementia, and increased socioeconomic costs in many countries — especially low- and middle-income countries. Such problems suggest the need for cost-efficient ways to provide dementia diagnosis training to primary care physicians in underserved areas of the world.     

Research Plan

Dr. Maria Unaucho and colleagues will devise and test an online dementia training program for primary care physicians in Ecuador. After recruiting their participant group of 286 PCPs, the researchers will administer an online survey to assess the state of dementia knowledge among these PCPs. They will then use survey findings to develop a training program that will improve knowledge of such areas as dementia symptoms, the brain changes of dementia, and the social and economic costs of dementia treatment and care. Participants will receive 40 hours of training over several weeks in two-hour online training sessions. Once training sessions are completed, the researchers will assess the effectiveness of the sessions. They will analyze how well the PCPs perform on tests of dementia knowledge, and whether the program has enabled the PCPs to better diagnose dementia in their medical practice. 

Impact

The results of this project could shed new light on the state of dementia knowledge among PCPs in underserved countries. It could also identify a novel method of improving that knowledge and reducing the social, economic and health costs of dementia worldwide.

Back to Top