Management of the agitated elderly patient in the nursing home: the role of the atypical antipsychotics.

Agitation is a frequent and troublesome problem in the long-term care setting. The term agitation is a nonspecific descriptor of a variety of verbal, vocal, and motor behaviors that can be unsafe, disruptive, and distressing to staff, families, and patients alike. Agitation can occur as a result of psychiatric and nonpsychiatric conditions, and appropriate treatment needs to be directed at the target symptoms. Optimal results are achieved with a combination of behavioral and pharmacologic interventions. In this review, we examine some of the causes and interventions that can assist physicians caring for the agitated elderly in long-term care settings. The role of the atypical antipsychotics is discussed in detail.