ADVANTAGES OF MEMORY CLINICS IN GERIATRIC DEPARTMENTS

A memory clinic and memory workshops have been made available in a ger iatric department to improve the etiologic diagnosis and therefore the management of memory disorders in elderly patients. This approach all ows to establish a functional prognosis and is particularly useful in medium-term care facilities where many patients are unable to return h ome because of cognitive disorders. A description is given of the work of the memory clinic multidisciplinary team (neurologist, psychologis t, and psychiatrist). Diagnoses and psychometric results are reported separately for patients from medium-term facilities, long-term facilit ies, and outpatients. Age-related memory impairment and Alzheimer's di sease were the most common diagnoses in the medium-term facility and o utpatient groups.