At a time when 6.7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias—and an additional 28 million are experiencing cognitive decline—effective communication between patients and healthcare providers is more critical than ever. Unfortunately, conversations about cognitive impairment are not happening as often as they should in primary care, despite the growing aging population and the importance of early discussions and interventions.

 A new School of Public Health (SPH) study published in Annals of Family Medicine explores one potential solution to this challenge: the “About Me Care Card,” a simple tool designed to facilitate meaningful, patient-centered discussions about cognitive health in primary care settings. The “About Me Care Card” fills an obvious need. Existing tools for cognitive impairment focus primarily on clinical diagnosis, but often fail to support whole-person, values-based discussions that address patients’ personal fears, goals, and social needs.

SPH researchers developed the tool by identifying these gaps in existing cognitive care tools and incorporating feedback from a diverse steering committee made up of health care professionals, patient advocacy groups, caregivers/family members, and individuals with dementia. In all, 14 clinicians across seven institutions piloted the card during in-person or telehealth patient visits. The study, which included 145 patient encounters, found:

• Overall positive feedback for the “About Me Care Card.” 65% of patients said they would recommend the card for others over 65, 59% valued the opportunity to share what was meaningful in their lives with a clinician, and 43% felt it helped facilitate these discussions.
• The tool was useful across various healthcare settings, including primary care, memory clinics, and palliative care centers.
• Anecdotally, many patients and caregivers praised the tool, saying it helped to:
  • Move beyond mundane details and standard talking points and enable more personalized and holistic care discussions
  • Improve communication and enable shared decision-making between patients, families, and providers

However, while 41% found it easy to use, some patients with advanced cognitive challenges required assistance. Additionally, only 32% felt it helped in creating a concrete plan to address their priorities.

“Despite recommendations for annual cognitive health screenings, primary care providers often struggle to engage aging adults in conversations that get to the core of the issues they may be facing,” says Stuart Grande, SPH associate professor and lead author. “We designed the ‘About Me Care Card’ as a way to ignite more meaningful dialogues between patients, providers and family members. Findings from this study suggest that by integrating tools like this into care settings, clinicians might be able to identify patient concerns earlier, ultimately improving care planning and cognitive health management.”

Further research is needed to evaluate the scalability and long-term impact of the “About Me Care Card” on patient outcomes, including strategies for how best to integrate the tool into routine clinical workflows and whether it can influence cognitive health interventions over time.