The goal of the Education Core is to support the general activity of the other Cores of the U.T. Southwestern Alzhelmer's Disease Center through education and information transfer to health professionals and the community at large. The major education content will focus on state-of- the-art diagnostic methodology, medical treatment, patient management, and support for family caregivers. In addition, scientific and clinical advances will be included in the information transfer work of the Education Core. In order to meet this goal, the Education Core expects to develop and implement four major programs as described in this proposal. Continuing medical education will be offered to primary care physicians in order to update their skills in diagnosis, work-up and treatment and care of dementia patients. The Education Core will provide support and technical assistance to participants who are willing to make presentations to their own circle of colleagues. The Education Core will also work with Voluntary Hospitals of American to present an educational event over their satellite television network. This event will reach health care professionals in approximately 400 hospitals nation-wide. U.T. Southwestern Medical Center will link to the forthcoming FreeNet system to offer free information through computer assisted programming. The Education Core will develop an Alzheimer's disease support and education component which will allow the ADC's Clinical Core to offer contact and information for its patients' caregivers. It will also allow other caregivers access to the program's question and answer format, its information base, and the interactive quality of a support group. U.T. Southwestern's ADC serves two satellite centers: Tulsa, OK (serving the Cherokee Nation), and Tyler, TX (serving rural elderly) in conjunction with Dallas Veteran's Administration Medical Center. The Education Core will support these centers' need for outreach and information transfer by providing printed materials, media presentations, and technical assistance. The need to bridge traditions in health care between the Cherokee and Western medical practices will be especially delicate. The Education Core plans to play a pivotal role in this activity.
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