Psychogeriatric Day Research Articles

Classification decisions within psychogeriatric day care.

Classification decisions play a central role in implementation of day care services. A case study is presented which examines classification decisions within an outpatient multilevel psychogeriatric day care program at a state psychiatric center. Staff cited as relevant criteria: social isolation, severity of psychopathology, home emotional climate, activity, ADL and mental status. Issues related to utilization of criteria, such as relevance, consensus, definition and program changes, are discussed.

Evaluation of day clinic treatment in geriatric psychiatry

Experiences with day hospitals for elderly patients in various countries have led to differing views regarding specific indications for this particular treatment mode. In a series of investigations we tried to clarify the place of a day hospital for elderly patients which is an integrated part of a psychiatric hospital within the total of psychiatric care of the elderly. As a result we are able to demonstrate a spectrum of indications for psychogeriatric day hospital treatment far broader than mentioned in the majority of the relevant literature of the UK and the Netherlands e.g. In this particular setting it is possible to give treatment not only to patients with dementia of differing degree but also to mild or moderately disturbed affective or schizophrene psychoses. Thus the psychogeriatric day hospital can be demonstrated to be a necessary link within the chain of psychiatric care of the elderly.

"Asset stripping" the declining mental hospital.

A psychogeriatric day hospital was developed from a long-stay back ward of a large mental hospital whose population of patients had decreased by half. Women in the 70-80 age group with varying degrees of dementia benefited most from such facilities. In view of the current cut-back in Government spending one of the greatest assets in providing a comprehensive service for the elderly mentally infirm may well be found in the declining mental hospital.

Geriatric day hospitals: practice and planning.

A study of 1026 day-hospital patients who attended the three geriatric day hospitals in East Kent in the year 1971-2 showed similar results to those obtained from previous studies with regard to age and sex of attenders, diagnoses and average length of attendance. Day-hospital practice was viewed within the context of the other essential services provided for the elderly in this retirement area. The lack of day centres and psychogeriatric day hospitals and its effects on day-hospital practice are discussed with reference to the low NPI (new patient index) figures in the three units. Each area's yearly referrals are related to its resident elderly population and vary from 3-15 patients per 1000 (average 7.7 patients). Since an average patient attends for three months or more, something between 1 and 2 places per 1000 elderly would be required if they attended two days a week, and up to 3 places per 1000 elderly if they attended three days a week. This result suggests that the national guide-line of 2 places per 1000 elderly may be sufficient to meet present local referrals; though it cannot be assumed that it measures need.

Day care in geriatric psychiatry.

Psychiatric day care for the ederly is still in its relative infancy in this country, and we can expect a great increase in demand. Treatment may be less prominent among the functions of a psychogeriatric day hospital than supportive care and tolerance of odd and confused behaviour. Psychogeriatric day patients tend to become permanent, their attendance being more often terminated by inpatient admission than by discharge; in demented patients this is because their needs are unlikely to abate, and these patients often need to come daily; in many functional patients it is because they become dependent on the day hospital, and manage quite well provided they can come once a week. Thus it is only rarely that short-term day hospital attendance provides an alternative to short-term hospitalisation; more commonly it is an extension of long-term care, or an alternative to long-term hospitalisation. Some practicalities are considered, and some still open issues.

Roles of Staff in a Psychogeriatric Day Care Center

Roles of Staff in a Psychogeriatric Day Care Center

An innovative program for a private psychogeriatric day center.

Abstract: An initial report is presented concerning the establishment of a new type of “partial hospitalization unit” in an urban area to bridge the increasingly large, alarming and unmet gap between the services provided by state psychiatric hospitals and the essentially nonpsychiatric services provided by senior citizens centers for elderly men and women.The authors describe the need for day centers specifically designed and staffed in a fashion which can offer: 1) the therapeutic resources for a flexible, individually prescribed program to meet the emotional, psychic and social needs of each person referred to the Center, and 2) an active program of re‐education and remotivation while cooperating with the patient's regimen for physical rehabilitation.