Psych CASC / OSCE · Old age psychiatry — elder abuse and vulnerability
Elder abuse disclosure — CASC communication station
MRCPsych/FRANZCP-style CASC: respond to elder abuse disclosure, assess immediate safety and wishes, explore capacity issues lightly, offer options, and agree a plan.
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Station brief
Format. Communication station, approximately 7–10 minutes after reading. You are the psychiatry registrar in an old-age clinic. The adult child is in the waiting room. [1]
Candidate instructions. Respond to disclosure of elder abuse. Ensure privacy. Assess immediate safety and the person’s wishes. Explore nature of abuse (physical, psychological, financial, neglect). Check mood and suicidal ideas. Outline options (safety planning, social work/safeguarding, police, alternative accommodation, financial protections) without inventing statute numbers. Agree next steps and follow-up. Do not force decisions or collude with minimisation. [1][3]
References4ShowHide
- [1]Lachs MS, Pillemer KA Elder Abuse N Engl J Med, 2015.PMID 26559573
- [2]Appelbaum PS Clinical practice. Assessment of patients' competence to consent to treatment N Engl J Med, 2007.PMID 17978292
- [3]Cooper C, Selwood A, Livingston G Knowledge, detection, and reporting of abuse by health and social care professionals: a systematic review Am J Geriatr Psychiatry, 2009.PMID 19916205
- [4]Rosen T, Hargarten S, Flomenbaum NE, Platts-Mills TF Identifying Elder Abuse in the Emergency Department: Toward a Multidisciplinary Team-Based Approach Ann Emerg Med, 2016.PMID 27005448