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| Research article summary (published 30 Jan 2002): |
Can psychiatric liaison reduce neuroleptic use and reduce health service utilization for dementia patients residing in care facilities.
Full Abstract
BACKGROUND:
The quality of care and overuse of neuroleptic medication in care environments are major issues in the care of elderly people with dementia.
METHOD:
The quality of care (Dementia Care Mapping), the severity of Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms (BPSD--Neuropsychiatric Inventory), expressive language skills (Sheffield Acquired Language Disorder scale), service utilization and use of neuroleptic drugs was compared over 9 months between six care facilities receiving a psychiatric liaison service and three facilities receiving the usual clinical support, using a single blind design.
RESULTS:
There was a significant reduction in neuroleptic usage in the facilities receiving the liaison service (McNemar test p<0.0001), but not amongst those receiving standard clinical support (McNemar test p=0.07). There were also significantly less GP contacts (t=3.9 p=0.0001) for residents in the facilities receiving the liaison service, and a three fold reduction in psychiatric in-patient bed usage (Bed days per person 0.6 vs. 1.5). Residents in care facilities receiving the liaison service experienced significantly less deterioration in expressive language skills (t=2.2 p=0.03), but there were no significant differences in BPSD or wellbeing.
CONCLUSION:
A resource efficient psychiatric liaison service can reduce neuroleptic drug use and reduce some aspects of health service utilization; but a more extensive intervention is probably required to improve the overall quality of care.Copyright 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Author information
Author/s: Ballard, Clive (C); Powell, Ian (I); James, Ian (I); Reichelt, Katharina (K); Myint, Pat (P); Potkins, Dawn (D); Bannister, Carol (C); Lana, Marisa (M); Howard, Robert (R); O'Brien, John (J); Swann, Alan (A); Robinson, Damian (D); Shrimanker, Jay (J); Barber, Robert (R);
Affiliation: Newcastle General Hospital, Newcastle, UK. c.g.ballard(-atsign-)ncl.ac.uk
Journal and publication information
Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article
Journal: International journal of geriatric psychiatry (Int J Geriatr Psychiatry), published in England. (Language: eng)
Reference: 2002-Feb; vol 17 (issue 2) : pp 140-5
Dates: Created 2002/01/28; Completed 2002/04/22; Revised 2006/11/15;
PMID: 11813276, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)
Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.
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