Working life: Professor  Brian Lawlor, consultant psychiatrist

Catherine Shanahan talks to Prof Brian Lawlor, consultant psychiatrist and chair of the Dementia: Understand Together Campaign about his working life

7.30am

I cycle from Blackrock to work at St James’s Hospital, Dublin. I’ve only myself to get out — my children have grown and (mostly) flown.

8.30am

I meet with the lead of our DemPath project to discuss staff training. DemPath’s designed to improve the care journey for people with dementia at St James’s. There are a couple of strands, including a rapid assessment screening tool for people over 65. The idea is to try and detect early on if the patient has delirium or cognitive impairment. Early pick-up can mean shorter hospital stays, appropriate referrals following discharge, and better outcomes.

9am

I spend most of the morning in the Memory Clinic. My first patient is an older man with memory loss, who’s concerned he may have Alzheimer’s. He’s fully assessed, including memory testing, MRI, blood tests. Some of the patients referred don’t have dementia and their memory complaints are due to conditions that can be treated, such as depression, anxiety, medication side-effects.

11am

A patient with young-onset dementia (under 65) returns to clinic and we discuss behavioural interventions such as exercise and social engagement which help improve mood and wellbeing. The patient has significant anxiety and depression. Our initial approach strategy is non-drug.

1pm

I rarely have time for anything more than a coffee and my salad box.

1.30pm

I follow up on phone calls around our recent nationwide dementia awareness survey. The results show people are gradually becoming more aware of the disease and are gaining greater understanding.

It also showed our Dementia Understand Together TV campaign is having an impact, with three in five saying they were affected by the personal stories.

2.30pm

I’ve a research meeting related to our study on dementia prevention involving healthy volunteers in mid-life

, where we are trying to develop early markers to see who is at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease

.

4pm

I’ve a meeting with our new Atlantic Fellows at the Global Brain Health Institute.

This is an interprofessional leadership training programme, based at Trinity College Dublin and University of California San Francisco that’s breaking down the silos around dementia. and I’m one of the co-directors.

Among the newest recruits are a Nigerian neurologist, a Scottish musician and, an American writer.

7pm

I head home on the bike. Tennis and cycling are my passions during downtime.

Prof Brian Lawlor is consultant psychiatrist and chair of the Dementia: Understand Together Campaign