How Best to Approach Mental Health Care in Nursing Homes

Unfortunately, nursing homes do not have the best reputations for dealing with mental health issues.  Taking care of elderly individuals and running a full service nursing home is already a massive and difficult undertaking.  Managing elderly residents who have special needs due to mental health disorders makes things even more complex.  Medically treating a mentally ill patient is the work of a psychiatrist, a doctor who specializes in treating mental health issues via the use of prescription medication.  Finding and maintaining the right dose and the right medication for a particular patient is an art form, and sometimes it can take a bit of experimentation before the right drug and the appropriate amount actually makes a positive difference in the patient's life.  Nursing homes often do have onboard psychiatrists, but no one individual can constantly manage every patients' doses at the same time.  Thus, many nursing homes have developed a reputation for over doping their special needs patients in order to make them more docile.  This is a dangerous and highly inappropriate approach to medical treatment.  Over doping patients can result in medical complications and may even promote drug dependency issues.  Dr. Eleanor Feldman Barbera, PhD, is the author of The Savvy Resident's Guide and has over 17 years of experience as a psychologist in long-term care.  She maintains a medically oriented blog that focuses primarily on nursing homes.  I arrived at some interesting facts while reading through her work.  For one, it seems that younger people now account for 10% of the nation's 1.4 million nursing home residents.  Secondly, and perhaps most interestingly, Dr. Barbera suggests utilizing a set of steps for making sure a loved one who is about to enter the mental health unit of a nursing home, receives the most appropriate care.

1. Collect as much information as possible in regards to the patient at hand.  (Which medications have worked in the past, and at which doses.  Medical history, medical allergies, behavioral patterns, etc.)

2. Immediately upon admission to the mental health unit of the nursing home in question, make sure the patient becomes acquainted with the onboard psychiatrist/psychologist.  It is important for the individual in question to quickly establish a health relationship with her health provider.  If the relationship is unsavory or trust is not built, an external psychiatrist should be brought in who can better serve the patient's needs.

3. Make sure that the staff who will primarily work with the resident in question are well briefed in regards to his/her condition.  Knowing what medications to use and at what doses is VERY important when it comes to the treatment of mentally ill individuals.  It is also crucial that the staff of the nursing home be well versed when it comes to reading the patient's mood swings and understanding his/her behavioral patterns.

4. Make sure the family of the patient in question is involved in the admission process.  Family members are typically the best people to talk to about previous experiences, behavior, and the success or failure of certain medications in the past.



Works Cited

"Helping Mentally Ill Nursing Home Residents." mybetternursinghome.  Web Marketing Magician, n.d. Web.  24 Apr. 2014.