The American Geriatrics Society's newest clinical tool, the AGS Guide to the Management of Psychotic Disorders and Neuropsychiatric Symptoms of Dementia in Older Adults, is now available on the AGS Web site, according to an AGS news release.  The guide gives health care professionals an overview of the risk factors, evaluation and ...

An OIG audit found that almost one in seven elderly nursing home residents, nearly all of them with dementia, are given powerful atypical antipsychotic drugs even though the medicines increase the risks of death and are not approved for such treatments, according to a New York Times article. More than half of the antipsychotics paid for by the ...

 The recruitment period of the Phase 2 Advancing Excellence in America's Nursing Homes Campaign ended at midnight January 31, 2010. The Campaign signed up. 5,860 nursing homes, including 1,132 new participants and 4,728 re-enrollees (now charter members of the Campaign), are now members of the Phase 2 Campaign, reports Carol Benner, ScM. ...

Fall-induced traumatic brain injuries caused almost 8,000 deaths and 56,000 hospitalizations in 2005 among Americans 65 and older, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the June issue of the Journal of Safety Research. In 2005, TBIs were responsible for 50 percent of unintentional fall deaths and 8 percent of nonfatal ...

Norovirus, often called the ''stomach flu,'' often shows its face this time of year. Most people realize it's highly contagious but, for the first time, U.S. health officials report it can be spread from contact on computer keyboards and computer mice. With several people sharing computers in long-term care facilities, and the push towards ...

MRSA, a type of staph infection, made national news again two weeks ago, with federal health officials reporting its death toll in the U.S. has surpassed that of the AIDS virus. MRSA, which stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is a type of bacteria that is resistant to certain antibiotics, including methicillin, oxacillin, ...