🎯Three Content Types · One Force Field
Every square belongs to one of three content types — not three levels you climb. Track progress in your Course and Skills Lab.
📘 Learn It Content type
Concepts to absorb.
🛠 Live It Content type
Daily skills and habits.
📣 Share It Content type
Teach, advocate, carry forward.
🛡️Your Force Field — 16 Squares
Deeper detail lives in the Prepared Patient Dementia (general) course.
Types of Dementia
Alzheimer's, vascular, Lewy body, frontotemporal, mixed. Each different.
Learn ItTreatment Options
Cholinesterase inhibitors, memantine. Disease-specific options emerging.
Learn ItSpot Delirium
Sudden change = look for cause. UTI, med, dehydration, infection most common.
Learn ItTriggers
Infection, fatigue, new med, environment change, hunger/thirst.
Learn ItModifiable Factors
Hearing/vision correction, exercise, social engagement, sleep, BP control.
Learn ItMedication Discipline
Often caregiver-assisted. Pill organizers, alarms, reviews.
Live ItComprehensive Care
Routine screening for UTI, depression, weight loss, falls.
Live ItNutrition + Hydration
Both decline. Active monitoring + simple meals.
Live ItSafety + Environment
Stove safety, locks, ID bracelet, GPS, no loose rugs.
Live ItMake Every Visit Count
Bring caregiver, observation log, all meds.
Live ItYour Care Team
Geriatrician, neurology, PCP, OT/PT, social work, palliative early.
Live ItCare Tech
GPS trackers, medication dispensers, video check-ins.
Live ItInsurance + Cost
Medicare basics; long-term care insurance separate. Memory care expensive.
Live ItTeach & Mentor
Caregiver-to-caregiver support is uniquely valuable.
Share ItAdvocate
Funding, anti-stigma, supportive policies.
Share ItResearch & Trials
Type-specific therapies, biomarkers, prevention.
Share ItThree things to learn before you actually need them.
Workflow lives in the Prepared Visit Tool. Trackers in your Course.
Which door do I use?
Dementia is gradual. Acute changes are usually something else, and often fixable.
Handle at home
- Stable cognitive baseline
- Routines manageable
- Medications on schedule
Log it. Predictability is medicine.
Call the office / message the portal
- New mild confusion
- Sleep changes
- UTI symptoms
- Running low on meds
- Behavior change subtle
Same day. Treatable causes are common.
Urgent / Acute care
- Marked acute confusion
- Severe sundowning
- Fall without serious injury
- Fever or infection signs
- Sudden refusal of food or meds
Urgent care. Delirium workup.
ER NOW / call 911
- Severe acute confusion with fever, vomiting, severe headache
- Severe fall or head injury
- Stroke signs
- Severe agitation with danger
- Lost / wandering with safety concern
Call 911. Most acute changes have a treatable cause.
How to describe a new symptom in 30 seconds
What is it?
Plain words.
How bad?
0-10.
When did it start?
Time + what you were doing.
What made it worse?
Movement · food · meds.
What helped?
Even a little.
What else was new?
Fever · med · supplement · stress. The forgotten detail often shifts the diagnosis.
“Mom’s confusion is much worse since this morning, a 7, started after a 2-day mild fever, daytime is worst, calm voices and hand-holding help, and she hasn’t been drinking much water.”
Questions worth asking
Four for every patient, every condition, every visit:
- “Could this be a side effect of one of my medications, a supplement, or something else I’m doing — and should we change that?”
- “Would any non-drug therapy help — physical therapy, meditation, rest, ice or heat?”
- “If I can’t afford this medication or this test, can we talk about samples, alternatives, or a social worker who can help?”
- “What should I be watching for between now and my next visit — and when do I handle it myself, when do I call your office, when do I go to urgent care, and when do I go to the ER?”
Questions specifically for Dementia (general):
- “What type of dementia — does it change treatment or prognosis?”
- “Are we treating modifiable factors — hearing, vision, sleep apnea, depression?”
- “Advance directive and goals of care — up to date?”
- “What’s the caregiver-support plan — respite care, in-home help, day programs?”
- “When do we discuss palliative care — not at end of life, but as supportive care now?”