Alzheimer's Care—New Guidelines for Assessing Older Drivers
Posted by Jim Kimzey on Thu, Mar 18, 2010
Driver Safety—Help for Alzheimer's Family Caregivers
Driver safety is a big concern for family caregivers because many dementia patients resist giving up the car keys. Most experts recommend that caregivers enlist the doctor to be the bad guy with a formal evaluation of the patient's driving ability.
However, the problem goes beyond just Alzheimer's patients. Auto injuries are a leading cause of injury-related deaths for all seniors older than 65, and the death rate for drivers 85 years and older is nine times higher than the fatality rate of drivers 25 to 69 years old.
Physicians now have new guidelines on how to assess and counsel their elderly patients. The American Medical Association has just released the Physician's Guide to Assessing and Counseling Older Drivers. This 246-page book includes guidance on:
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- Red flags that might indicate a driver safety problem
- Assessing functional ability
- Physician interventions
- Ethical and legal responsibilities of the physician
- State licensing and reporting laws
- Medical conditions and medications that may affect driving
- CPT billing codes the physician can use to get reimbursed by Medicare
- Patient educational materials
It's a nice, comprehensive package that is designed for physicians, not the family caregiver. However, it does have a useful checklist called, "Am I a Safe Driver," which you can download from this blog post.
For more information on driver safety and how to get the keys away from a resistant Alzheimer's patient, visit the Alzheimer's Tool Box™.
