PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe emergency commitment of residents from nursing homes and to discuss relevant policy issues. DESIGN AND METHODS: This study used statewide, archival emergency commitment data from July 2000 through June 2008. These data are created by entering data from paper emergency commitment initiation forms of law enforcement, mental health professionals, and judges submitted by facilities as required by Florida law. RESULTS: During the 1 year from July 2007 through June 2008 there were 898 residents of Florida nursing homes with a total of 1032 emergency commitments. Some individuals had more than one emergency commitment from a nursing home during the year, with 9% having between two and five emergency commitments. One-third of the emergency commitments were for residents younger than 65. Some of these individuals also had substantial numbers of emergency commitments in the 7 years from July 2000 through June 2007. IMPLICATIONS: There are facility, client, and regulatory factors that can be addressed to reduce the inappropriate usage of emergency commitments in nursing homes.
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