COMPETENCE EVALUATIONS IN A VA HOSPITAL - A 10-YEAR PERSPECTIVE

The authors reviewed all 228 competency evaluations performed at the B altimore VA Medical Center during a 10-year period. Between 1980 and 1 984 and 1985 and 1989, the rate of inpatients who had competency evalu ations increased from 0.20% to 0.42%, and the average number of compet ency evaluations per year doubled from 12 to 24.6. The percentage of a ll psychiatric consultations which were for competency evaluation near ly doubled, from 5% to 9.4%. The rate of competency evaluations was sl ightly but not significantly higher for patients over age 65 than the rate for younger patients (0.44% vs. 0.33%). However, older patients w ere significantly more likely to be judged incompetent.