Course overview - Master's Courses in Dementia Care for Physicians
The Master's Courses in Dementia Care for Physicians consists of 8 modules, addressing the following areas:
- The cognitive and emotional functions of the brain and how they change with age.
- Nerve cell structure, functions and effects of ageing.
- Basic knowledge of light cognitive impairment, the different types of dementia, confusion, behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia.
- Medical, social and functional investigation of suspected dementia.
- Continuous treatment as the disease progresses.
- Medication, rehabilitation and nursing care.
- Severe dementia care and palliative care.
- Care and work models.
- Various organisational and management models for dementia care.
Neuroscience Basis for Cognition and Behaviour, 5 credits
The first course module provides you with the knowledge you need about the brain in your work with dementia diseases. An understanding of the normal brain will help you to develop the skills to assess cases where brain functions are impaired. An important part of your work is to keep abreast of the latest findings and have the opportunity to search for new knowledge. For this reason, an important part of this course is to impart the tools necessary for information searching.
The module comprises 5 credits and in addition to the introductory assignments is divided into three sections:
- Brain biology and function
- Cognition and aging
- Information searching
Dementia Disorders, 10 credits
This module represents a large and important part of the course in which you develop your knowledge and understanding of dementia disorders. In addition to the purely medical training, it is of vital importance that you develop your understanding of people with dementia in order to better help them to as good a life as possible. An important task for the health care system which you will get to develop in the course is preventive and secondary preventive interventions against dementia.
The module includes 10 credits and runs for fifteen weeks. The module is, in addition to the introduction, divided into three sections:
- Clinic and pathogenesis
- Empathy and interaction
- Epidemiology
Diagnostics and Medical Investigations,10 credits
The module comprises 10 credits and lasts for twenty weeks.
In addition to the introductory and examination tasks, this module addresses the section Dementia investigation, where we highlight the content of dementia diagnostics, but where you will also develop your diagnostics skills in different ways, based on the clinical picture and diagnostics criteria. You will also assess how to proceed when the diagnosis is set.
Treatment and Evaluation, 5 credits
The module comprises 5 credits and lasts for ten weeks.
In this module you will learn how you in different ways, e.g., with medication or rehab efforts, can follow and support patients with dementia disorders during the course of the disease.
The module begins with a comprehensive lecture on drug therapy. The rest of the module is entirely made up of learning tasks, and finishes with an examination task.
Treatment of Disease Process Including Behavioural and Psychiatric Symptoms, 5 credits
The module comprises 5 credits and lasts for ten weeks.
It includes two parts: treatment/attitude in practice, and medico-legal aspects, respectively.
In this module, you develop your skills and ability to find solutions to the problems that arise when the dementia patient's autonomy decreases and he/she becomes increasingly dependent on a sympathetic environment. Many of the challenges in dementia care are about seeing the big picture and not "medicalise" problems, or difficulties to be solved by measures other than purely medical.
Palliative Medicine, 3 credits
The module includes 3 credits and lasts six weeks.
This module is, in addition to the introductory tasks, divided into three sections:
- Palliative care in dementia
- Symptom control
- Liverpool Care Pathway
The module deals with important issues that are relevant for the end-of-life care of patients with dementia disorders. Patients with dementia disorders approaching the final stage of life have less ability to convey their thoughts and needs than cognitively healthy persons do. Therefore, those of us working in health care need to develop our ability to provide good care in the final stages of life to people with dementia disorders.
Quality Assurance and Prioritizations within Dementia Care, 6 credits
The module includes 6 credits with focus on highlighting the healthcare systems ability to efficiently and with quality meet the needs and guidelines found in the field of dementia. It is based on the course participants' work and feedback with the teachers. You will, individually and in groups, analyze the dementia care performed on your home grounds and use your newfound skills to suggest how dementia care near you can be developed in the future.
Everyone who works in health care partakes in and has a responsibility for that the care processes in action are as effective and high-quality as possible. Therefore it is important that some of our work is dedicated to process enhancements. During this course you will develop your ability to improve the overall care processes for dementia disorders.
Degree Project for Master's Degree in Medicine - Dementia Care, 15 credits
The degree project comprises 15 credits.