Implementation of Nurse-Led Cognitive Screening During Medicare Annual Wellness Visits

Dementia is a serious and costly illness. Early identification of cognitive impairment provides opportunity for earlier intervention, and there is growing evidence suggesting that early intervention may help delay the onset of dementia. There is limited concensus and standardized recommendations for...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal for nurse practitioners 2022-05, Vol.18 (5), p.516-521
Main Authors: Peters Settje, Katie L., Yap, Tracey L., Chapman, Stacey, Brooks, Katie, Sabol, Valerie K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advanced practice nurses
Alzheimer disease
Alzheimer's disease
Caregivers
Cognitive ability
Cognitive impairment
cognitive screening
Dementia
Disease prevention
Early intervention
Health care access
Intervention
Medical screening
Medicare
Medicare annual wellness visit
Memory
memory loss
Nurse led services
Nursing
Older people
Patients
Primary care
Quality management
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Summary:Dementia is a serious and costly illness. Early identification of cognitive impairment provides opportunity for earlier intervention, and there is growing evidence suggesting that early intervention may help delay the onset of dementia. There is limited concensus and standardized recommendations for when and how cognitive screening should occur. This quality improvement project implemented a standardized nurse-led cognitive screening workflow during the Medicare annual wellness visit. Statistically significant differences were found between the baseline and implementation groups for Mini-Cog screening rates and referral for follow-up for further neurocognitive evaluation. A structured nurse-led workflow improved the cognitive screening process, providing opportunity for further evaluation and intervention. •A nurse-led cognitive screening workflow was implemented during Medicare annual wellness visits.•This was a quality improvement project , 2-group design with a convenience sample.•One in 4 individuals reported symptoms of cognitive impairment.•One in 5 individuals screened positive for cognitive impairment.•This project highlights the importance of developing cognitive screening workflows in order to identify cognitive impairment earlier in the disease process and provide opporutnity for intevention.
ISSN:1555-4155
1878-058X
DOI:10.1016/j.nurpra.2022.01.003