The Executive Interview (EXIT25) as a tool for assessing executive functioning in older medical and surgical inpatients referred to a psychiatry service: feasibility of creating a brief version.

Background: Most neuropsychological tests of executive function are time-consuming and otherwise unsuitable for routine bedside assessment, particularly in older people admitted to a general hospital. After introducing the Executive Interview (EXIT25) in our routine clinical practice, we hypothesized that it would be possible to shorten it for easier administration in our group of patients while maintaining or improving properties of the scale.

Methods: The EXIT25 was applied in 122 clinically stable medical and surgical inpatients aged 65 years and over referred to the Liaison Psychiatry Service for Older People.

Mental capacity assessments among general hospital inpatients referred to a specialist liaison psychiatry service for older people.

Background: Mental capacity has been little studied among older general hospital inpatients.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was undertaken of routinely collected data (age, gender, ethnicity, admission diagnosis, psychiatric diagnosis, Mini-mental State Examination score, whether capacity was assessed, the outcome of that assessment, and discharge destination) on referrals to a liaison psychiatry service for older people (2003-2006) from medical and surgical teams at a large London teaching hospital.

Results: 1267 patients were referred to the service, of whom 379 (30%) were assessed for capacity.