Supporters of elderly people with AD were significantly more involved in providing care than supporters of non-demented people. Judgement on the health, social relations and financial status of their families was significantly worse in AD supporters than in supporters of non-demented elderly people. Although the former made more use of available health and social services than the control population, they did appear to make little use of such services, not only because of lack of information but also for logistic reasons or because they would prefer a service with more specifically trained operators or more tailored intervention. AD family supporters would like to receive more information and support from their general practitioner, which confirms the importance of this figure in management of this pathology. They were less satisfied with the care provided than the control population, particularly those with a moderate-high burden. Irrespective of burden level, they also expressed a need for financial and psychological support and adequate intervention schemes, especially within the home. These should be provided by specially trained personnel and be tailored to specifically manage the individual patient's problems, especially in relation to behavioural disorders. This would help alleviate caregiver burden and allow patients to continue to be managed at home.
There are four main categories for funding continuing medical education (CME) in Europe: public funding, industrial funding, private funding, and a combination of the three. Reasons behind funding are different in countries with a prevalent state or free-market economy; public funding should have public health as its main concern, while individual funding should have concern with individual benefits. This paper describes the main alternatives and options for funding CME in Italy, a European country with a national health service (NHS) and a free-market economy. In Italy CME is a legal obligation for permanent NHS staff and for doctors who participate in the NHS. A budgeted item in the Health Fund is assigned to CME, but few Regions have clearly set out a CME programme strategy.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.