Video

PUPC Recap—Mild Cognitive Impairment in Primary Care: Early Recognition, Evaluation, and Risk Reduction Strategies

Kathy Baldridge, DNP, FNP-BC, FAANP


Key Highlights:

  • Mild cognitive impairment is increasingly relevant in primary care because of the aging population and declining access to specialists in some areas.
  • Primary care clinicians are positioned as frontline providers for identifying cognitive impairment and determining when referral is needed.
  • The presentation reviews assessment tools for patients and caregivers, diagnostic updates, treatment options, and management of comorbidities.
  • Early recognition is emphasized to reduce missed diagnoses and help patients maintain the best possible quality of life.

Primary care clinicians play a critical role in identifying mild cognitive impairment early, particularly as cognitive impairment becomes more common among older adults and access to specialists remains limited in some regions. In a Practical Updates in Primary Care (PUPC) 2026 presentation recap, Kathy Baldridge, DNP, FNP, emphasized that many patients with cognitive impairment are never assessed or diagnosed, making it essential for primary care providers to recognize symptoms, use appropriate assessment tools, understand when and where to refer, and manage related comorbidities when referral is not immediately available.

Additional Resource: https://www.hmpglobalevents.com/pupc 

Transcript

Hello, my name is Dr. Kathy Baldridge, and I am a family nurse practitioner. I am the supervisor NP education specialist, that's a mouthful, for Advanced Practice Education Associates (APEA). I worked for a long time in neurology, so that's near and dear to my heart, and I'm here today to recap for you my practical updates and primary care presentation, which is about mild cognitive impairment in the primary care setting.

So it's a great session, and listen, it's very important that you know about this, because you're going to see an increasing prevalence of cognitive impairment in the primary care setting, primarily because we have an aging population. The baby boomers are now 65 and older, and that's who you see cognitive impairment in. We have declining specialists around the country, depending on where you live, and so you may not always have the option to refer them to see if they have cognitive impairment, and whether it's mild, moderate, or severe. So, in primary care, you're going to be responsible for that. You're the frontline providers. So, what we talk about in this presentation is I'm telling you what you need to use to assess for the tools, for the patient, and for the significant others, recognizing that cognitive impairment, when to refer, and who to refer to. Dr. Sabbagh tells us what the latest and greatest is for diagnostic tools and treatment options for Alzheimer's disease and other cognitive impairments, and then we wrap it up with what you need to know in primary care, just in case you can't refer, and how you manage all the other comorbidities that may come along with that.

So it's a great resource for primary care providers to know what your role is in managing patients with cognitive impairment, because listen, the number one takeaway that I want you to know is there are a great many people out there with cognitive impairment that are never assessed and never diagnosed. We don't want that to happen. We want you to know and recognize that, have it on the forefront of your radar that you need to be assessing for cognitive impairment, because it is so much better when we catch that really early and give them an opportunity to have the best quality of life possible. So, thank you so much in advance for joining us.

 

This transcript was edited for clarity. 

 

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