Deficits in Geriatric Psych Care
Mental illness is becoming a more prominent part of our society, along with the increasing age of the population. The Baby Boomer population has begun to flood our health care centers and as time goes on this will become an even more prominent problem. This population brings a range of medical problems, and illness, and will be the first generation that has been diagnosed and or treated for a mental illness, such as Depression, Anxiety, Bipolar Disorder, and Schizophrenia. Many of these conditions will be conditions that patients have lived with their entire lives, but as they age and go through the aging process they will be exacerbated. Our health system is barely prepared to handle the increase in demand for regular medical care for this population, let alone the demands that the mentally ill will put on the system. According to Trossman, (2013), the number of adults over the age of 65 was at 40.3 million in 2010. This number is expected to balloon to 72.1 million in 2030. 1 in every 5 of these adults will have some form of mental illness. In addition to having a mental illness many of these patients will have a comorbidity that exacerbates their mental illness or makes treating their mental illness that much more difficult. Mental illness is not the only problem facing this population; they also have substance abuse and degenerative brain conditions such as Alzheimer’s, and Dementia. Healthcare facilities are not prepared to deal with the large number of patients that will be coming; especially for the special population of Alzheimer’s and Dementia patients that require a different level of care when they also have a mental illness. Assessing adults that are moving through the aging process and identifying ones who may be beginning to develop depression, or other disorders is also a challenge. …show more content…
Identifying these individuals is difficult. According to Trossman (2013), medications that the geriatric population can mimic the signs of depression and other mental illnesses. If a 70-year-old patient who was on a sleeping medication was also being interviewed for depression at a checkup was asked if he has been experiencing increased sleepiness, been confused, or depressed in the past 6 months would probably answer “yes” to one or more of those questions. All of these “symptoms” are side effects of many sleeping medications. He would also be meeting the criteria for a depression of diagnosis despite not actually having depression. Practitioners need to be able to recognize the comorbidities and medications that can mimic mental illness and be able to correctly identify patients who are in need of actual help. They also need the knowledge and resources to make the appropriate referrals if they are needed. Trossman (2013), estimates that as little as 3 percent of nurses and APRN’s are prepared to do this type of assessment on the geriatric population. George, Adamson, and Woodford (2010), review showed that the implementation of a specialized Geriatric Psychiatric floors would be the best improvement that the health care system could make to accommodate this population. Often time’s patients with a mental illness end up in the acute care setting and receive excellent care for the medical issue that they have. They then leave the facility in tip-top shape medically, but leave the same or worse off mentally. Nichols and Heller (2002), describes what it took to just open a floor for patients who suffered
Mental illness is becoming a more prominent part of our society, along with the increasing age of the population. The Baby Boomer population has begun to flood our health care centers and as time goes on this will become an even more prominent problem. This population brings a range of medical problems, and illness, and will be the first generation that has been diagnosed and or treated for a mental illness, such as Depression, Anxiety, Bipolar Disorder, and Schizophrenia. Many of these conditions will be conditions that patients have lived with their entire lives, but as they age and go through the aging process they will be exacerbated. Our health system is barely prepared to handle the increase in demand for regular medical care for this population, let alone the demands that the mentally ill will put on the system. According to Trossman, (2013), the number of adults over the age of 65 was at 40.3 million in 2010. This number is expected to balloon to 72.1 million in 2030. 1 in every 5 of these adults will have some form of mental illness. In addition to having a mental illness many of these patients will have a comorbidity that exacerbates their mental illness or makes treating their mental illness that much more difficult. Mental illness is not the only problem facing this population; they also have substance abuse and degenerative brain conditions such as Alzheimer’s, and Dementia. Healthcare facilities are not prepared to deal with the large number of patients that will be coming; especially for the special population of Alzheimer’s and Dementia patients that require a different level of care when they also have a mental illness. Assessing adults that are moving through the aging process and identifying ones who may be beginning to develop depression, or other disorders is also a challenge. …show more content…
Identifying these individuals is difficult. According to Trossman (2013), medications that the geriatric population can mimic the signs of depression and other mental illnesses. If a 70-year-old patient who was on a sleeping medication was also being interviewed for depression at a checkup was asked if he has been experiencing increased sleepiness, been confused, or depressed in the past 6 months would probably answer “yes” to one or more of those questions. All of these “symptoms” are side effects of many sleeping medications. He would also be meeting the criteria for a depression of diagnosis despite not actually having depression. Practitioners need to be able to recognize the comorbidities and medications that can mimic mental illness and be able to correctly identify patients who are in need of actual help. They also need the knowledge and resources to make the appropriate referrals if they are needed. Trossman (2013), estimates that as little as 3 percent of nurses and APRN’s are prepared to do this type of assessment on the geriatric population. George, Adamson, and Woodford (2010), review showed that the implementation of a specialized Geriatric Psychiatric floors would be the best improvement that the health care system could make to accommodate this population. Often time’s patients with a mental illness end up in the acute care setting and receive excellent care for the medical issue that they have. They then leave the facility in tip-top shape medically, but leave the same or worse off mentally. Nichols and Heller (2002), describes what it took to just open a floor for patients who suffered