Quality indicators of psychotropic prescribing to people with dementia in aged psychiatry inpatient units.

Objectives: To develop indicators of safe psychotropic prescribing practices for people with dementia and to test them in a convenience sample of six aged mental health services in Victoria, Australia.

Method: The clinical records of 115 acute inpatients were checked by four trained auditors against indicators derived from three Australian health care quality and safety standards or guidelines. Indicators addressed psychotropic medication history taking; the prescribing of regular and 'as needed' psychotropics; the documentation of psychotropic adverse reactions, and discharge medication plans.

Alfentanil anesthetic augmentation lengthens seizure duration in electroconvulsive therapy with older people.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) prescription rates rise with age, making it important that treatments be made as effective and safe as possible (Plakiotis et al., 2012). Older people are vulnerable to post-treatment confusion and to subsequent deficits in attention, new learning, and autobiographical memory (Gardner and O'Connor, 2008).

The Clinical and Service Outcomes of Unilateral and Bilateral ECT Electrode Placements in Australian Aged Psychiatry Services.

Objective: The aim of the study was to determine whether depressed aged inpatients treated with brief pulse unilateral electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) differed from those treated with bilateral (bitemporal or bifrontal) ECT with respect to numbers of treatments, length of hospital admission, changes in scores on depression and cognitive scales, and serious adverse effects.

Methods: An audit of routinely collected data regarding 221 acute ECT courses in 7 public aged psychiatry services in Victoria, Australia.

Results: Patients given unilateral, bifrontal, and bitemporal treatments were similar with respect to personal, clinical, and treatment characteristics.