The ATC-Classification System

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The ATC-classification system is an official classification for pharmacologic substances which is dividing them according to their organ or organ system on which they act and additionally upon its pharmacological and therapeutic properties. Twice annually updated by the German institute for medical documentation and information the ATC code contains drugs which are divided into fourteen main groups and pharmaceutical and therapeutic subgroups. By this the ATC-classification facilitates the comparison between the different pharmaceutics. The code itself starts from the 1th level of the anatomical main group across the therapeutic, pharmacological and chemical subgroups and within the 5th level merges into the specific chemical substances. Regarding …show more content…

It is a 25 item encompassing questionnaire to detect deficits of performance in daily activities for community-dwelling people from mild to moderate cognitive impairment. The first two items figure out if the patient is able to manage the activities of daily living (ADL) and estimates the extent of self-care. By this they can give a first idea of the individuals` general ADL capacities. The items three to 20 estimating specific tasks in daily life like medication, hygiene, reading, concentration, telephoning, shopping, food preparation, handling money and financial affairs, household appliances, transportation, leisure activities, measurement of the ability to conduct tasks which needs functional short-or long-term memory and the ability to get along in familiar and unfamiliar environments. Finally the last five items evaluate cognitive functions important for performing activities of daily living like the ability to continue a task after interrupting it, being intent to more than one thing, conducting the ADLs in a safe way, being able to manage new situations, or managing tasks even under pressure [22]. For each question a score from 0 to 10 with 0 standing for never problems and 10 always problems with the appropriate task, a “not applicable” and “unknown” can be given. The scale is conducted by the primary caregiver or the family members as these persons are the ones who mostly recognized deficiencies firstly [23]. By this the B-ADL serves for an assessment of early dementia and to evaluate the efficacy of therapeutic interventions as well as the progress of dementia. Finally, because of its briefness, the B-ADL is a suitable scale to use within a GP and primary care context

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