Alternatives to State Hospitalization for the Geriatric Mentally Ill
LEON J. EPSTEIN M.D.1, and
ALEXANDER SIMON M.D.2
1 Associate professor of psychiatry, University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco, Calif. 94122, and associate medical director, Langley Porter Neuropsychiatric Institute
2 Professor and chairman, department of psychiatry, University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco, and medical director, Langley Porter Neuropsychiatric Institute
Three years ago a geriatric screening unit was established in San Francisco to reduce state hospital commitments of elderly psychiatric patients by utilizing alternative community resources. In the present study the authors examined one year later the status of patients for whom alternatives—largely nursing homes—were found and compared this status with that of geriatric patients treated in 1959, principally in state mental hospitals. A conclusion as to the clear-cut superiority of these alternatives over state hospitalization does not yet appear justified.
