Geriatrician involvement in community-based psychogeriatric service

Aim. To evaluate the effectiveness of geriatric assessment and interventions in a psychogeriatric community service and to assess the prevalence of delirium in patients referred to this service. Methods. 16 female and 14 male psychogeriatric patients aged 65 to 97 (mean, 81.1) years were referred to a tertiary hospital in southwestern Sydney, Australia and assessed by the psychogeriatric team and a geriatric registrar. Data collected included patient characteristics and demographics, referral source, reasons for referral, medications, medical comorbidities, and clinical assessments made by the geriatric registrar. Differences between patients deemed to require interventions and those who did not were compared. Results. After assessment by the geriatric registrar, 10 of the patients were considered to require further medical interventions. Two of them were hospitalised for delirium; 2 were treated for osteoporosis owing to minimal trauma fractures, and 6 needed medication adjustments. Hypertension was more common in those not deemed to require an intervention (85% vs. 30%, p=0.005), whereas seizures were more common in those deemed to require an intervention (30% vs. 0%, p=0.03). Conclusion. Psychogeriatric patients may benefit from medical input by a geriatric registrar in terms of evaluating and managing complex medical issues and proceeding to a medical intervention.