A new home-based mental health program for older adults: description of the first 100 cases.
BACKGROUND
The Geriatric Psychiatry Outreach (GO) Program began in 2005 and provides in-home psychiatric evaluation and treatment for older adults who have difficulty getting to an office-based setting.


METHODS
An initial assessment was conducted on the first 100 patients seen by the program and follow-up treatment was provided as clinically indicated.


RESULTS
The mean age of patients seen was 79.7 (SD: 8.2), 74% were women, and the most common psychiatric diagnoses were depression (50%) and dementia (45%), with a mean of 1.4 (SD: 0.6) psychiatric diagnoses per patient. The patients had a mean of 4.8 (SD: 2.9) medical diagnoses and were on a mean of 6.8 (SD: 4.0) prescription and 2.2 (SD: 1.2) nonprescription medications. Patients received a mean of 4.2 (SD: 4.2) in-person visits and a mean of 30.2 (SD: 36.5) additional contacts related to their care, such as phone calls, e-mails, and faxes.


CONCLUSIONS
Providing psychiatric services at home for older adults with mental illness is a much needed but rarely available service. Such patients typically have a complex combination of medical and psychiatric diagnoses and benefit from contacts in addition to the face-to-face visits.
Johnston
Deirdre
D
Department of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Smith
Melissa
M
Beard-Byrd
Karen
K
Albert
Aaron
A
Legault
Claudine
C
McCall
W Vaughn
WV
Singleton
Amy
A
Brenes
Gretchen
G
Hogan
Patricia
P
Reifler
Burton
B
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods