The role of an old age psychiatry consultation liaison nurse

✍ Scribed by Yvonne Collinson; Susan M. Benbow

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 105 KB
• Volume: 13
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6230
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1166(199803)13:3<159::aid-gps747>3.0.co;2-m

✦ Synopsis

Objective:

To assess and describe service changes when a psychiatric consultation liaison nursing service is introduced.

Design:

Prospective collection of basic service data before and after implementation of the service change.

Setting:

A newly established comprehensive old age psychiatry service.

Patients:

People on medical and surgical wards aged over 65 years referred for psychiatric assessment.

Outcome measures:

Numbers of referrals made and patients seen, details of psychiatric diagnoses made and follow-up offered before and after the change in the service.

Results:

Within 6 months there was an increase in liaison referrals to the service. the proportion of people offered follow-up showed little change and delay before assessment decreased substantially with the pcln service.

Conclusions:

A psychiatric consultation liaison nursing (pcln) service was successfully initiated. numerous difficulties were encountered but this is a useful model for old age psychiatry services to consider researching and developing further.