Main description:

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on older adults with mental illness, and Geriatric Mental Health Care was conceived in response. This book, with its detailed descriptions of clinical and social innovations to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on a vulnerable population, represents an ongoing effort to address rapidly evolving health care needs. Because the authors worked on this book during the pandemic, the practices they describe have been tested and refined in the real world.

Introductory vignettes that serve to illustrate each chapter's salient points, key takeaways that allow for quick reference, and multiple-choice questions that help reinforce learning are the hallmarks of Geriatric Mental Health Care. In addition to offering a historical perspective on the mental health effects of pandemics, the chapter authors delve into modern-day concerns that include inpatient geriatric psychiatry during a pandemic, telehealth models of care, health care staff concerns, and social determinants of health. The authors also explore the pandemic's effects on research and the economy, analyzing the impact of nonclinical factors on the broader clinical care effort.

Although important strides have been made in the delivery of mental health care to older adult patients, very real challenges remain more than a year and a half after the pandemic's emergence. Even as the world continues to grapple with the effects of the current pandemic, mental health professionals must prepare themselves to provide care under the trying conditions of what will likely be other pandemics in the future. These considerations make Geriatric Mental Health Care, and its purpose of sharing promising practices that other clinicians and systems can consider emulating, so urgent and necessary.

Contents:

Chapter 1. Pandemics and Mental Health: Epidemiology and Public HealthChapter 2. Historical Overview of PandemicsChapter 3. Emergency Psychiatric Care for Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Workflow, Common Presentations, and Overall TrendsChapter 4. Inpatient Geriatric Psychiatry During a Global PandemicChapter 5. COVID-19 in Long-Term Care SettingsChapter 6. Dementia Care and the COVID-19 PandemicChapter 7. Telehealth Models of Care for Geriatric Behavioral Health During a PandemicChapter 8. Managing Health Care Staff Concerns During Pandemics: Acute Phase and Recovery PhaseChapter 9. Geriatric Psychiatry Among Older Adults from Diverse Backgrounds in the Age of COVID-19Chapter 10. Social Determinants of COVID-19 Morbidity and MortalityChapter 11. Tales from the Pandemic: The Effect of COVID-19 on ResearchChapter 12. Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults during the COVID-19 PandemicChapter13. The COVID Economy: Mental Health Impact on Older AdultsChapter 14. Ethical Dilemmas and Resource Scarcities during PandemicsChapter 15. Neuropsychiatric Manifestations of COVID-19Chapter 16. Psychopharmacological Challenges of Treating Older Adults with COVID-19Chapter 17. Challenging Times: Consultation-Liaison (CL) Psychiatry in the Era of COVID-19