Patient cards: storage and input for medical data.

The literature concerning the diffusion of innovations reveals that it is not surprising that a promising technology is confronting obstacles in its development and implementation. Alternative technologies also often appear that address the same or similar problems. Better information enables physicians to provide medical care that is less expensive and less error prone. The prescription of medications is reduced in number and cost when the prescribing physician knows the current and previous medications of the patient. The ordering of clinical tests is reduced in number and cost, and the ordering of timely retesting is more likely when physicians have before them information about previous testing of their patient. The challenge is in how the portability of the patient card and its ability to be self-contained can enhance medical practice.

Implications of a mental health intervention for elderly mentally ill residents of residential care facilities.

Unresolved issues of responsibility between mental health and aging systems low priority within the mental health system for serving older RCF residents, and little expectation for the facility to be a treatment environment, all contribute to gaps in service delivery to mentally ill boarding home residents. This article reports the results of a two-year mental health intervention in RCFs. Findings show little intervention impact, but revealed that residents treated were generally socially marginal with weak ego skills, rather than significantly mentally ill. A more intensive program that restructures the facility's milieu to offer planned normal life demands and that models structured programs like milieu treatment, in situ treatment for the younger mentally ill, and programs for developmentally disabled persons is suggested.