Description of a Program for Psychiatric Consultations in the Nursing Home

The authors describe a psychiatric consultation program ad-ministered by a geropsychiatric clinical nurse specialist in a nursing home and present data on its effectiveness. Residents referred for psychiatric consultation were similar with regard to demographic characteristics, but were more cognitively intact. The most common reasons for referral were depressive symptoms, agitated behavior, and perceptual distortions. Interventions involving medication were the most frequently used, followed by relocating the resident, staff interventions, and psychotherapy. Treatments that involved moving the resident were rated as less effective. Overall, significant improvement was noted in slightly more than half of all residents referred for psychiatric consultation.