Prescribing of neuroleptics for geriatric nursing home patients: a focus on indications and dosing

America's elderly is the fastest growing segment of our population and as a result, the demands on the health care system to provide care for these citizens have increased. Although part of this demand was met by the establishment of long term care facilities (skilled nursing homes), the quality of care provided by some of the early institutions was less than optimal. In the early 1970s, Townsend reported on nursing home problems in America. Her text effectively focused public attention on the potential inadequacies of nursing homes through the testimonies of the investigators, nursing home employees and the patients' families. In June, 1974, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare approached this problem through their Long Term Care facility Improvement Campaign. One component of this effort involved the assessment of physician prescribing patterns in skilled nursing facilities. The objectives of this study is to 1.) Report the incidence of neuroleptic drug use in the geriatric nursing home population.; 2.) To report the incidence of physician documentation of the need for neuroleptics in geriatric nursing home patients; 3.0 To examine the indications for neuroleptics and the dosages prescribed in llight of two sets of criteria: those developed by the National Institute of Mental Health and those assembled by the investigator.