For physicians, Dr. Tomac offers a psychiatrist’s perspective on caring for elderly dementia patients and discusses how the Awakenings program works. In this video, she …

• Reviews recent initiatives regarding antipsychotic use in dementia
• Describes the Awakenings program to reduce unnecessary medication use in people with dementia and reviews three-year outcome data
• Discusses causes of agitation and uses of medications in elderly
• Describes the step-by-step process used to implement the Awakenings initiative
• Emphasizes the important roles of the physician, PA and NP in the Awakenings team approach

About Dr. Tracy Tomac, M.D.

Dr. Tracy Tomac currently works at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minn., as an inpatient psychiatry hospitalist. From 2001-2011 she worked at St. Luke’s Hospital in Duluth in inpatient, utpatient, and nursing home psychiatry. She has 15 years’ experience in nursing home psychiatry and is a longstanding member of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. She has been working with the Ecumen Awakenings program since its beginning and was instrumental in its development. She attended Texas A&M College of Medicine, and completed residency training at Mayo Graduate School of Medicine. She teaches medical students, residents, and physician assistant students and is a medical coordinator for the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice.