Assessment of attention in Alzheimer's disease.

Intact memory is critical to maintaining cognitive vitality and independent functional status, and impaired memory is a major risk factor for nursing home admission. It is essential that all people who work with elders in any setting (community, acute care hospital, or long-term care facility) identify early subtle changes in memory such as impaired attention and institute proper care in a timely manner. This article describes attention and how it is related to impaired memory. It presents methods of assessing impaired attention in older adults and interventions to support attention in older adults.