Many US crisis centers and acute psychiatric hospitals appear to be seeing more referrals of persons whose age and behavior suggest that dementia may be the problem rather than a serious psychiatric disorder. In many cases such referrals are efforts to secure involuntary inpatient admissions. This problem only stands to worsen as "baby boomers" (the leading edge of which are now entering their late '60s) age out. This appears to be more an aging services concern. However, there seem to be few 24/7 geriatric emergency services per se and inpatient geripsychiatric care is often of limited availability. Mental health crisis centers seem to be the default resource. This may not only be inappropriate but a gross misutilization.
Is my life of any value from the cost/benefit aspect if I suffer from dementia?
Based on the literature emergency psychiatric care benefits individuals with dementia, increases their survival and decreases the risk of long‐term care placement.
Survival of people with dementia after unplanned acute hospital admission: A prospective cohort study. Sampson, Elizabeth L.; Leurent, Baptiste; Blanchard, Martin R.; Jones, Louise; King, Michael. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 28.10 (Oct 2013): 1015-1022
Medical outcome of patients with dementia in a free-standing psychiatric hospital. Manu, Peter; Grudnikoff, Eugene; Khan, Sameer; Kremen, Neil J.; Greenwald, Blaine S.; et al. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology 26.1 (Mar 2013): 29-33.
A follow‐up intervention in severely demented patients after discharge from a special Alzheimer acute care unit: Impact on early emergency room re‐hospitalization rate. Villars, Hélène; Dupuy, Charlotte; Soler, Pauline; Gardette, Virginie; Soto, Maria E.; et al. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 28.11 (Nov 2013): 1131-1140
This paper may be of interest also:
The diagnosis, prevalence and outcome of delirium in a cohort of older people with mental health problems on general hospital wards.
Whittamore, Kathy H.; Goldberg, Sarah ; Gladman, John R. F.; Bradshaw, Lucy E.; Jones, Rob G. ; et al. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 29.1 (Jan 2014): 32-40.
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