434 LOOK OUT! VISUAL ASSESSMENT TOOL: UTILITY IN OLDER PERSON’S MENTAL HEALTH CARE SETTINGS

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Patients on old age psychiatry wards are at high risk of falls. It has been shown that poor visual acuity significantly increases the risk of recurrent falls in the elderly. The National Audit of Inpatient Falls (NAIF) Report 2015 found that vision was poorly assessed. The Look Out! Visual assessment has been developed for patients over 65 to receive visual screening on admission to reduce the risk of falls. To date, there has been no research into the applicability of the Look Out! test in mental health settings. Our aims are two-fold: (i) To investigate how often vision is assessed for inpatients on old age psychiatry wards and (ii) To identify the challenges of visual assessment in a mental health care setting. Methodology Data was collected at a mental health unit with two wards dedicated to old age psychiatry patients. Data was collected for patients admitted from May 2020 to July 2020 and analysing qualitative and quantitative data. Results From the 30 patients reviewed, 27% of patients had ophthalmic history, such as glaucoma or cataracts, 23% of patients had a fall during admission, yet only 43% of patients had a Look Out! vision assessment completed and documented. 54% of patients who had a Look Out! Assessment were found to have an abnormality; of those with an abnormality detected on Look Out!, 57% were new presentations of an eye abnormality. On questionnaires, we found it more challenging to complete assessments of patients that were agitated or with advanced dementia but assessments were fully completed if more time was dedicated. Conclusions These findings demonstrate that the Look Out! test is applicable in mental health settings, helping to identify those with visual impairments and raising the need to complete the screening tool in all patients admitted to inpatient mental health facilities.