[Admission of patients with dementia to a psychiatric hospital. Social circumstances, circumstances of admission, treatment and further referral].

This investigation is a retrospective registration on the basis of the case histories of 290 patients with the main diagnosis dementia who were admitted to a psychiatric hospital in the years 1982 and 1983. The average age was 77 years. Patients with their own homes comprized 61% but only 28% were admitted from their own homes. More than 70% of the patients admitted were described as suffering from moderate or severe dementia on admission. 93% were admitted voluntarily and 91% during the daytime. The reason for admission most frequently registered was the patient's suffering. In 66% of the cases, the general practitioner had attempted treatment prior to admission. During hospitalization the majority of the patients received medicinal treatment. At the conclusion of treatment, 52% were found to be improved and 34% unchanged. 46% of the patients were assessed as requiring maximum nursing-home treatment and 29% were considered to need psychiatric nursing-home treatment. 8% could be discharged to their own homes. The average durations of hospitalization, duration of treatment and waiting-time were reviewed. It is noteworthy that the waiting-time, 311 days, was found to be nearly as long as the duration of treatment, 316 days. In addition, the waiting-times for nursing-homes with maximum care were calculated to be 229 days on an average and for psychiatric nursing homes 596 days.