Primary care provider approach to patients with neurologic complaints 1

Published on June 30, 2024   33 min

A selection of talks on Neurology

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0:00
I'm Dr. Robert Coni. I'm a Neurologist at Grand Strand Medical Center and the Associate Professor of pre-clinical medicine at Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine. Today we're going to talk about the approach to the patient with a neurologic complaint for the primary care provider.
0:22
Why is this important? You're here. You've chosen to watch this video for a reason. It's likely that you have experienced some of the issues I have outlined here. You recognize that there was a significant number of patients that you see with neurologically-related complaints. You may even be experiencing a subtle degree of anxiety overseeing these patients. Of course, the shortage of neurologists has impacted you and your patients already. Your access to neurologic consultation for your patients is delayed and adds to your angst. It's my hope that I can provide you with a more rigorous approach that will increase your comfort level in seeing and evaluating patients with nervous system-related complaints.
1:10
As alluded to, there is a significant number of patients who have neurologic complaints when they enter their primary care physician's office, the emergency room, or an urgent care center. These range from headache through neurodegenerative disorders, and there are numerous iterations in-between.
1:31
In a study performed in the United Kingdom and published in 2000, the most common major neurological conditions encountered in a primary care practice included cerebral vascular events, shingles, diabetic polyneuropathy, compressive neuropathies, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, peripheral neuropathies, multiple sclerosis, neuralgias, and CNS infections. Other more recent studies indicate that headaches and migraine, Alzheimer's disease, neurologic injuries such as spinal cord injury and TPI, motor neuron disease, and radiculopathy, as well as back pain, are common complaints also. For the first time ever in the US, the number of people above age 65 is higher than those below the age of 18. Middle-aged Americans already outnumbered this group. This graying of the population has been apparent in other Western nations. For instance, in Japan, one in four are at least 65 years of age, and Europe is headed down the same path as the US. With this aging, the prevalence of some of the neurological diseases mentioned are sure to play a more important role.

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Primary care provider approach to patients with neurologic complaints 1

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