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Biomedical subjects

J P Wattis

Publications and source records attributed to J P Wattis.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

Use of guardianship under the 1983 Mental Health Act.

The powers of guardianship under the 1983 Mental Health Act confer on the guardian powers to require the patient to reside in a specified place, to require attendance for treatment and to require access to the patient for appropriate health and social services personnel. This paper presents a descriptive study and analysis of the use of guardianship over a 5-year period in four geographical areas. Cases were collected retrospectively from a variety of sources and scrutinized systematically. Three cases of guardianship for mental impairment were excluded from the analysis leaving 23 patients with mental illness. All but two of the patients were female. Older patients, mostly with dementia, accounted for three-quarters of the sample and the majority of orders in this group were to require residence in an old people's home (usually with an apparently good outcome), though three were intended to facilitate home care. In most of the younger patients a functional psychiatric illness was diagnosed and powers were used to maintain the patient at home. The absence of a specific 'power to convey' needs to be resolved for elderly patients needing residential care. The use of guardianship orders to maintain older patients in the community needs further exploration.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Medical students' attitudes to old people and career preference: the case of Nottingham Medical School.

Medical students' attitudes to the elderly population were compared at entry to and exit from a month-long clinical attachment in the Department of Health Care of the Elderly at Nottingham University. The study investigated clinical students for the 1983-4 and 1986-7 academic years using a questionnaire employing a Rosencranz-McNevin semantic differential scale to measure general attitudes to old age and a Likert scale to measure attitudes to medical care. A question was also asked about career preferences. Improvements in attitudes during the month were noted for both cohort groups, but different trends for the two groups are discussed in the context of the growing pre-clinical effects of such a specialist department in a medical school.

Aged↗
PubMed1988

Geographical variations in the provision of psychiatric services for old people.

A survey of all identifiable consultants providing specialized psychiatric services for old people was conducted in 1985/6. Respondents, mostly working more than four sessions per week in old age psychiatry covered 64% of the elderly population of the UK. Major variations were recorded between health regions in the proportion of the elderly population served by our respondents and in the personnel and facilities provided. The national average provision of key facilities and groups of staff is reported and regional variations highlighted.

Aged↗
PubMed1986

Medical students' attitudes to old people and career preference: a comparison of two universities.

Medical students' attitudes to old people were compared at broadly similar points in their education at two medical schools, one with a department of health care of the elderly (Nottingham), the other without such a university department (Leeds). The students were tested at both schools before their clinical training in care of the elderly, using a modified Rosencranz-McNevin semantic differential scale to measure general attitudes to old age, and a Likert scale to measure attitudes to medical care. Questions were also asked about career preferences. Both groups of students showed similar general attitudes to ageing. The Nottingham students showed more positive attitudes to care of old people, and this was reflected in career preferences.

Aged↗
PubMed1981

Alcohol problems in the elderly.

Seven case reports of alcoholism in the elderly are presented. These patients formed a significant proportion of 108 patients seen in the first eight months of a new comprehensive psychiatric service for the elderly. None of them initially presented as alcohol abusers; three were first seen by geriatricians because of repeated falls, and four who came directly to psychiatrists were referred for atypical dementia, confusion or self-neglect. Three patients had started to abuse alcohol only late in life; the remainder were life-long heavy drinkers. In three instances, close relatives who abused alcohol themselves, were in collusion. The diagnosis of alcohol abuse in these elderly patients depended upon the recognition of such manifestations as repeated falls, confusion, and self-neglect. The prognosis was influenced by age at onset, social and family factors, and the presence or absence of brain damage. In two of the patients, a poor prognosis was linked to collusion by alcohol-abusing children.

Age Factors↗