Press Release August 2006
Residential Program Receives Nurses Best Practice Award for Schizophrenia
PHILADELPHIA – The Greystone House, a long-term residential program for adults with severe and persistent mental illness, was selected this month to receive the American Psychiatric Nurses Association’s Best Practice Award for the Treatment of Schizophrenia. The program director will accept the APNA award in October at the APNA Annual Conference in California.
Recently described it as the “Ultimate Therapeutic Milieu” by a visiting psychiatrist, the Greystone House was recognized by the APNA for the pivotal role of the psychiatric nurse in the program’s operation, its individualized treatment given to each resident and its evidence-based outcomes. The program, located on the Friends Hospital campus in Northeast Philadelphia, houses up to 27 residents, ranging in age from 36 into to the 90s, and all have a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
The nurses in Greystone fill the roles of administrator, educators, and clinicians. The nurse program director, Kathleen Walker, is responsible for the oversight of all administrative and clinical aspects of the program. Other nursing staff provide patient education on a variety of topics including nutrition and exercise, smoking reduction, relaxation, social skills and medication management. They provide both individual and group therapies, conduct annual nursing assessments, monitor lab results, oversee medication administration, arrange for medical appointments and participate in treatment planning.
Another recognized strength of the program is the individualized treatment given to each resident and the positive outcome measures including:
Prevention of Regression: Once admitted to Greystone, psychiatric inpatient hospitalizations are rare. There are currently 21 residents in the program; all had extremely high recidivisism and multiple hospitalizations prior to admission. Total psychiatric hospitalizations for the Greystone residents over the past five years totaled 1 or 2 a year.
Quality of Life: Over the past four years, the program has incorporated significant improvements in the quality of life of the residents using the following measures: attention to physical health concerns, smoking reduction, general nutrition, participation in social events, attendance in groups, and a newly initiated patient satisfaction questionnaire. A few examples follow.
Over the past four years, all of the residents except one have reduced their smoking by an average of 60%.
Obesity has been a major concern. With increased attention to a healthy diet and more focus on exercise, there has been a slow but steady weight reduction in most of the residents who need it.
Schizophrenic’s Anonymous is a weekly meeting. When it began four years ago, very few residents were able to stay for the full time, and some could tolerate only 5 to 10 minutes. Now, 100% of the residents attend for the entire 45 minutes.
All of the women in the program participate in a weekly poetry group. To date they have “published” two small books of their works.
Four years ago there were 7 residents who never left the house. Today, all but one go out for some social activity at least once a week.
For more information about Greystone House, call 215-831-6369.
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