China News Service, Beijing, March 23 (Reporter Li Chun) "Memory clinics should not only focus on diseases, but more on health." Xie Hengge, Chairman of the Alzheimer's Disease Branch of the China Elderly Care Association, on the 23rd He said this in an exclusive interview with reporters in Beijing.
On the same day, the "START-Memory Clinic Action" launched by the Alzheimer's Disease Branch of the China Elderly Care Association was launched in Beijing. Xie Hengge said in an interview that the memory clinic is a specialized disease clinic. The original intention of its establishment was to facilitate the elderly with memory loss to go to the hospital for treatment according to their own symptoms. At the same time, he hoped to arouse the awareness of memory loss among the elderly and all walks of life in this way. Pay attention to better help the elderly "retain their memories."
Talking about the construction of memory clinics, Xie Hengge said that currently, both domestic and foreign countries are paying attention to the establishment and development of memory clinics. According to incomplete statistics, there are currently more than 660 memory clinics in China. Many large tertiary hospitals have memory clinics in the neurology, geriatrics, traditional Chinese medicine and mental health departments.
At a recent press conference held by Chinese officials, Li Dachuan, deputy director of the Department of Medical Affairs of the National Health Commission, mentioned that medical institutions should be promoted to break down the barriers of traditional disciplines and departments and build a patient-centered system with disease diagnosis and treatment as the chain. Multidisciplinary integrated clinical specialty. One direction in which this work is being carried out is in the field of systemic diseases, including diseases represented by Alzheimer's disease.
Xie Hengge said that the establishment of the memory clinic followed the idea of solving problems related to memory diseases in a multidisciplinary approach. This is a "one-stop" solution that involves neurologists, nursing research experts, etc., as well as cognitive training and rehabilitation teams; it not only solves patients' memory problems, but also treats other diseases related to memory impairment. , risk factors, etc. also need to be integrated intervention.
"In such a full-chain process, from health education to disease prevention, intervention, diagnosis, treatment, care, etc., the service method of the memory clinic can allow the elderly to run away less and get better results in the 'one-stop' service. The medical effect." Xie Hengge said.
It is expected that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China's total elderly population aged 60 and above will exceed 300 million, moving from mild aging to the moderate aging stage. In this context, the urgency of developing memory clinics to help the elderly "retain their memories" has become highlighted.
Xie Hengge said that with the trend of population aging, the number of elderly people suffering from memory loss will increase, but the manpower currently available for memory outpatient services is still insufficient. On the one hand, memory outpatient services must be provided to the grassroots, and medical staff in grassroots medical and health institutions must master the basic skills and intervention and treatment measures for identifying memory disorders.
On the other hand, tertiary hospitals must make clinical and scientific research more solid. Problems that cannot be solved by grassroots medical and health institutions can be referred to higher-level hospitals; after the higher-level hospitals clarify the diagnosis and treatment methods, they can then return to the grassroots level for outpatient follow-up, daily care, home services, etc., to open up channels and let each perform their duties.
This is also the goal of the "START-Memory Clinic Action" launched that day. According to Xie Hengge, the initiative will launch a series of special training courses and key lectures for memory clinics across the country. It plans to train about a thousand professional medical staff in memory clinics and strive to build 50 more medical and health institutions to build new memory clinics; It will provide special guidance to grassroots medical and health institutions, carry out health science popularization to the public, and promote the construction and development of memory clinics. (over)