Tips from the Pros: Basics of Psychiatric Management in the Nursing Home

The majority of nursing home residents have a psychiatric diagnosis, yet their care is usually managed by non-psychiatrists. This interactive course is intended to equip long-term care providers with essential skills to address common psychiatric issues. It addresses dementia and related behaviors, psychotropic prescribing safety, performing medication reviews, and caring for those with major chronic psychiatric illnesses. You will also learn how to assess capacity, manage residents living with personality disorders, when and when NOT to seek outside consultation, and how to design a “practice philosophy” that includes healthy limit-setting. 

Tools and resources include AGS Beers Criteria® list, case scenarios to practice medication reviews, strategies for front-line staff to identify and manage behaviors, safe prescribing strategies, and a decision-making model.

Get the skills and tools you need with PALTmed's one-hour, on-demand, mobile-friendly course.

Learning Objectives 

At the completion of this activity, learners should be able to: 

  • Optimize medications and practice safe prescribing. 
  • Describe strategies for managing patients with personality disorders. 
  • Distinguish between lifelong and late-onset illnesses and their treatment plans. 
  • Discuss the benefits of becoming a Pro Re Nata (PRN)-Free facility with leadership. 
  • Provide non-pharmacological care to patients with behavioral challenges.

Lea Watson, MD, MPH

Lea Watson, MD, MPH, is a geriatric psychiatrist and consultant to the long-term care workforce on issues of behavioral health, psychopharmacology and provider wellbeing.


Allison Villegas, PA-C

Allison Villegas, PA-C, has been providing post-acute and long-term care in Denver nursing homes for the last 10 years. She is Vice President of CMDA: Colorado's Society for Post-Acute and Long Term Medicine. She is on the PALTmed Board of Directors and is involved in multiple committees and workgroups.

  • 1.0 CME
  • 1.0 CMD Cinical
  • 1.0 MOC

Release Date: 02/01/2023 | Expiration: 02/01/2026

Credit Statements:

Accreditation: Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medical Association is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

CME Designation: Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medical Association designates this enduring material for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

ABIM MOC: Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to 1.0 Medical Knowledge Point and patient safety credit in the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM MOC credit.

CMD Credit Hours: This CME activity has been pre-approved by the American Board of Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine (ABPLM) for a total of 1.0 clinical hours toward certification or recertification as a Certified Medical Director (CMD) in post-acute and long-term care medicine. The CMD program is administered by the ABPLM. Each physician should claim only those hours of credit actually spent on the activity. For further information, contact ABPLM at 410-992-3117 or at cmd@paltmed.org.

Financial Disclosure:

No one in control of content disclosed any relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.

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