[Home visits by community health nurses can contribute to the family practitioner's knowledge of elderly patients].
OBJECTIVE
To determine to what extent the general practitioner (GP) is aware of the health status and functioning of his elderly patients and in which areas this knowledge can be completed with the aid of community nurses.


METHODS
Cross-sectional, descriptive.


METHODS
Department of General Practice. State University Limburg, Maastricht, the Netherlands.


METHODS
A random sample of 59 patients aged 79 years and over, belonging to the population of a primary health care centre, were visited by community nurses. One patient was lost. The nurses inventoried the patients health complaints and their daily functioning by means of a structured questionnaire. Data from these home visits were compared with data from the same questionnaire, regarding the same patients, which the three GPs of the health centre had filled in on the basis of their medical records.


RESULTS
Of the complaints recorded by the community nurses. 34% were not known to the general practitioners. This concerned mainly symptoms of depression, urinary incontinence, disabilities and handicaps of the musculoskeletal system. sleep disturbances, daily functioning and ability to cope. The main determinants of the ability to cope were impaired walking and to a lesser degree symptoms of depression.


CONCLUSIONS
A structured interview of elderly patients by a community nurse yields substantial information about health problems.
Stalenhoef
P A
PA
Rijksuniversiteit Limburg, vakgroep Huisartsgeneeskunde, Maastricht.
Huijnen
L G
LG
Schonck
R S
RS
Knottnerus
J A
JA
van der Horst
F G
FG
Crebolder
H F
HF
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D003152:Community Health Nursing; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006792:House Calls; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires