ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the mental health, physical health and aspects of quality of life in residents soon after their admissions to residential or nursing care homes. Psychiatric disorders in residents were a major focus of the study, and the screening assessment carried out in the first phase of interviewing provides an estimate of their prevalence in new admissions to homes during fieldwork period. Information about each resident's dependency needs was obtained by interviewing staff informants, using the D. Barthel and the Crichton Royal. Residents with a dementia diagnosis had significantly lower Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores than those with no such diagnosis but the majority of low or very low MMSE scorers had no dementia diagnosis. The number of residents taking four or more drugs raises questions about procedures for preadmission medication review. The study by L. Furniss and colleagues demonstrated that reducing the number of medicines prescribed for older people has no adverse effect on morbidity or mortality.
