Admission Requirements
Criteria for admission to the Center for Senior Mental Health include:
n Patient’s age should be 55 years or older
n A patient must be either a danger to self or others, or gravely disabled
n Patients can only be admitted under a psychiatric diagnosis
n As a County Designated hospital, we are trained to handle 5150 and 5250 legal holds
Patients eligible for Inpatient Services usually, but not always, experience several of the following symptoms:
n Attempts or threats of suicide
n Loss of interest in regular activities
n Changes in sleeping patterns
n Confusion, disorientation, memory changes
n Inability to care for self or home
n Abrupt changes in behavior
n Isolation and withdrawal from friends and family
n Inability to concentrate, sudden decrease in intellectual functioning
n Expresses feelings of helplessness and/or hopelessness
n Seeing or hearing things that no one else sees or hears
n Impaired understanding of reality
n Abuse of drugs, medications or alcohol
n Difficulty with impulse control
n Decrease in energy level
n Increased or decreased appetite
n Uncharacteristic anger, irritability or agitation
n Extended and extreme grief over a loss
Medical parameters for admission include, but are not limited to:
n Patient has no communicable disease requiring isolation or nursing precautions other than standard precautions.
n Patient has no active drainage sites capable of spreading infection. We evaluate each client on a case by case basis to determine if we can meet the need of the client.
n Seizures are generally under control.
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