Lesson 1Documentation templates and medico-legal considerations for outpatient geriatric psychiatryLooks at useful ways to write records for mental health checkups in old people outside hospital, stressing clear writing, noting dangers, ability records, agreement to treatment, and legal protections to lower risks and support good, safe care.
Structuring the geriatric psychiatry noteDocumenting risk, capacity, and consentHandling late-life safeguarding concernsUse of templates and checklistsCommon medico-legal pitfallsCommunication with primary care and familyLesson 2Standardized screening tools: selection, administration, and scoringCovers picking right tools for quick checks, how to use them properly, score them, and understand results, paying attention to culture, language, and sense problems, and how to use findings in diagnosis and ongoing checks in clinic.
Selecting tools by clinical questionStandardized administration proceduresScoring rules and cutoffsAccounting for education and cultureTracking change over timeCommunicating results to patientsLesson 3Assessing activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental ADL (IADL)Explains simple ways to check basic and more complex daily tasks, understand loss of ability, and connect findings to diagnosis, dangers, and care plans, including driving, money matters, and taking medicines.
Core ADL domains and rating scalesKey IADL tasks in late lifeLinking function to cognition and moodAssessing driving and community safetyFinancial and medication managementUsing functional data in care plansLesson 4Interpreting Mini-Cog, Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15), and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) resultsGives step-by-step help on using and understanding Mini-Cog, GDS-15, and MoCA, knowing limits, wrong positives and negatives, and how to mix scores with doctor judgment and extra information from others.
Administering the Mini-Cog correctlyUsing and scoring the GDS-15MoCA domains and scoring nuancesAdjusting for education and languagePatterns suggesting delirium or dementiaExplaining results to patients and familiesLesson 5Identifying atypical presentations: psychomotor slowing, apathy, and masked affectFocuses on spotting unusual or quiet signs of mental illness in old people, like slow movements, lack of interest, and hidden feelings, and telling them apart from normal old age, sadness, memory loss, and medicine effects.
Clinical features of psychomotor slowingDistinguishing apathy from depressionMasked affect and cultural factorsMedication and neurological mimicsUse of collateral to clarify changesImplications for diagnosis and treatmentLesson 6Comprehensive history taking: psychiatric, medical, social, functional, and medication reviewDescribes a planned, quick way to take history from old people, mixing mental, body, social, daily task, and medicine information, while handling time limits, thinking problems, and many sources in busy clinics.
Structuring the initial interviewEliciting psychiatric symptom historyMedical and neurological comorbiditiesSocial, family, and support contextFunctional status and role changesMedication and substance reviewLesson 7Assessment of sleep, appetite, weight change, and sensory deficitsReviews careful checking of sleep, eating, weight changes, and sense losses, showing their value in diagnosis, links to feelings and thinking, and useful ways for history, measuring, and starting care plans.
Characterizing insomnia and hypersomniaAppetite and weight change patternsScreening for malnutrition and frailtyVision and hearing assessment basicsSleep, mood, and cognition linksWhen to refer for further evaluationLesson 8Focused physical and neurological exam elements for older adultsSums up key body and nerve exam parts most important for old people's mental health, including walking, movement, senses, and nerve signs, and how to record findings and know when to get more body doctor help.
Vital signs and general inspectionGait, balance, and falls assessmentScreening neurological examinationExtrapyramidal and tremor assessmentSigns of delirium and acute illnessWhen to refer to neurology or geriatricsLesson 9Collateral sources and interviewing caregivers: structured questions for daughters/partnersExplains how to get and use extra information from caregivers, with planned question lists for daughters, partners, and others, while handling privacy, arguments, load, and different views on the patient.
When and why collateral is essentialPreparing caregivers for the interviewStructured questions for daughtersStructured questions for partnersReconciling conflicting accountsAddressing caregiver burden and distress
