Prevention of psychiatric recidivism: a model service

This article describes the patient-care activities of a medical school multidisciplinary section on geriatric psychiatry. The main treatment goal is the prevention of psychiatric recidivism. An index of this prevention is the re-admission rate, since the risks of institutionalization and recidivism tend to rise with each successive admission. The Section reported a re-admission rate of 4 percent for the first year of operation, a rate significantly less than that reported in the literature. The Section's achievement is predicated upon compliance with the requirements for optimal mental health care of the elderly. The protocol is presented in the hope that it may help others who wish to start such a service.