Launching and Leading Change Initiatives in Health Care Organizations: Managing Successful Projects

Chapter 3Planning: Seeds of Success and Failure

Recent research into Alzheimer's disease has uncovered a sad truth: the illness has an extended preclinical stage that may last as long as ten years. During this phase the patient has no symptoms, but recognizable changes in the brain are already occurring. Autopsy reports reveal that a high percentage of people with undetected early-onset Alzheimer's were often mistakenly diagnosed with other forms of dementia. Forty-seven percent were still incorrectly diagnosed at the time of death. Moreover, of people with atypical symptoms and no memory problems, 53 percent were incorrectly diagnosed.¹ Today, doctors can probe the neurons of potential Alzheimer's patients before they show symptoms. In theory, ...