Decera Clinical Education Neuroscience Podcast · Decera Clinical Education

Cognitive Conversations: Brain Health in Primary Care

·26 min·1 clip

Nicola Hansen brings together Dr. Pierre Theriault and Robin Martinez for a conversation about how brain health gets talked about in primary care. The episode is part of the 2025 Brain Health Program and is framed as an educational discussion for clinicians, patients, and families. It starts with a common problem: someone feels foggy, or a family member notices something is different. Dr. Theriault explains that terms like mild cognitive impairment often come up when the question is whether a change in thinking is medically significant. That uncertainty sits at the center of the clinical problem. This is not just about naming a condition. It is about deciding what needs evaluation and what may still have a reversible explanation. The MOCA comes up as a brief objective screen that can help show whether decline in thinking ability may be present. It is not treated as the whole answer. Relative and caregiver reports carry real weight, especially when the patient’s own account may miss part of the picture. A borderline or even normal test does not stop the workup if functioning is slipping. From there, the evaluation broadens. Dr. Theriault walks through a focused interview, exam, routine blood tests, and brain imaging as the first pass. The aim is to look for stroke, tumor, vitamin deficiency, Parkinson’s disease, medication effects, or other causes that can be found and addressed. Substances such as alcohol and marijuana are also part of that review. The episode keeps coming back to the same point: cognitive complaints often have more than one possible explanation. That leaves the clinician’s job less about certainty and more about sorting signal from noise. Robin Martinez keeps the discussion grounded in patient and family experience. The result is a conversation that takes anxiety seriously without feeding it. It also gives primary care a clearer role. The closing note is practical optimism: with the right questions and a first-line evaluation, primary care can handle a meaningful share of these concerns before referral is needed.

As heard by us

A careful primary-care guide to cognitive decline, loved ones' concerns, and the first reversible causes to check.

This episode treats brain health in primary care as a practical workflow rather than a vague concern. Dr. Pierre Theriault moves through the signs patients may notice, from fogginess to mild cognitive impairment, and lays out the next step: sort out what might be reversible,…

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You want a primary-care path for brain fog, memory concerns, and family-reported change.

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