title: [Psychiatric care of the elderly].
abstract: The number of the aged people hospitalized "for psychiatric reasons" is growing steadily. Nevertheless, it has been evidenced that most of them do not need admission into psychiatric institutions or, when admitted, do not receive relevant care for a rapid discharge. Moreover, unnecessary hospitalization of the elderly into psychiatric departments or institutions may quickly deteriorate their health status for various reasons (coresidence with the severely mentally ill, psychologic destabilization due to loss of their familiar environment...). There is a need for transforming certain psychiatric hospitals into nursing homes for the aged, but this raises many administrative questions unresolved for the time being. For example, the law of 31 December 1970 does not allow public hospitals to run institutions not aimed at providing inpatient medical care in a strict sense. There is also an evident need for expanding outpatient care to the elderly. This in turn raises a number of management issues concerning the reorientating of personnel, the coordination of the activities of various bodies and personnel categories...etc...
authors.affiliation: l'Ecole Nationale d'Administration.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Poulhès
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003704:Dementia / Q000628:therapy*; D005602:France; D005852:Geriatric Psychiatry; D006299:Health Services for the Aged; D006707:Homes for the Aged; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D009735:Nursing Homes
vernacular_title: Les soins psychiatriques aux personnes âgées.