C. Dimity Pond

Correlation and agreement of self-assessed and objective skin disease severity in a cross-sectional study of patients with acne, psoriasis, and atopic eczema.

Background  Previous studies have shown variable correlation of patients’ self‐assessed skin severity measures and clinician‐assessed objective measures of severity. But, generally, correlation has not been as good as might be expected for conditions in which the objective physical extent of skin disease is apparent to the sufferer to an extent that is not applicable in many other diseases.

How to Help Depressed Older People Living in Residential Care: A Multifaceted Shared-Care Intervention for Late-Life Depression

OBJECTIVE To describe a population-based, multifaceted shared-care intervention for late-life depression in residential care as a new model of geriatric practice, to outline its development and implementation, and to describe the lessons learned during the implementation process. SETTING A large continuing-care retirement community in Sydney, Australia, providing three levels of care (independent living units, assisted-living complexes, and nursing homes). PARTICIPANTS The intervention was implemented for the entire non-nursing home population (residents in independent and assisted living: N = 1,466) of the facility and their health care providers. Of the 1,036 residents whowere eligible and agreed to be interviewed, 281 (27.1%) were classified as depressed according to the Geriatric Depression Scale. INTERVENTION DESCRIPTION: The intervention included: (a) multidisciplinary collaboration between primary care physicians, facility health care providers, and the local psychogeriatric service; (b) training for primary care physicians and other facility health care providers about detecting and managing depression; and (c) depression-related health education/promotion programs for residents. CONCLUSIONS The intervention was widely accepted by residents and their health care providers, and was sustained and enhanced by the facility after the completion of the study. It is possible to implement and sustain a multifaceted shared-care intervention for late-life depression in a residential care facility where local psychogeriatric services are scarce, staff-to-resident ratios are low, and the needs of depressed residents are substantial.

Screening for Dementia in Primary Care: A Comparison of the GPCOG and the MMSE

Background/Aims: The General Practitioner Assessment of Cognition (GPCOG) is a brief cognitive test. This study compared the GPCOG to the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the most widely used test, in terms of their ability to detect likely dementia in primary care. Methods: General practitioners across three states in Australia recruited 2,028 elderly patients from the community. A research nurse administered the GPCOG and the MMSE, as well as the Cambridge Examination for Mental Disorders of the Elderly Cognitive Scale-Revised that we used to define likely dementia. Results: Overall, the GPCOG and the MMSE were similarly effective at detecting likely dementia. The GPCOG, however, had a higher sensitivity than the MMSE when using published cutpoints. Conclusion: The GPCOG is an effective screening tool for dementia in primary care. It appears to be a viable alternative to the MMSE, whilst also requiring less time to administer.

An evaluation of the additional benefit of population screening for dementia beyond a passive case‐finding approach

General practitioners (GPs) fail to identify more than 50% of dementia cases using the existing passive case‐finding approach. Using data from the “Ageing in General Practice” study, we sought to establish the additional benefit of screening all patients over the age of 75 for dementia beyond those patients already identified by passive case‐finding.