Elderly care. A pilot project on opportunistic geriatric assessments in general practice.
OBJECTIVE
To develop a pilot program for systematic assessment of functional status of the elderly in general practice.


METHODS
The program was developed in consultation with local GPs and aged care services and introduced to GPs at a workshop. The program was piloted for seven general practitioners with 41 patients, 70 years or older.


RESULTS
While many problems had been previously identified by GPs additional problems with: home and social life; activities of daily living and mobility; cognition and depression; general health and medication problems were found in up to 2.5% of patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Opportunistic health assessment of the elderly in general practice is practical and useful in detecting health problems.
Shah
S
S
Department of General Practice, South Western Sydney Area Health Services, University of Sydney, New South Wales.
Harris
M F
MF
Conforti
D
D
Dickson
H
H
Fisher
R
R
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D005194:Family Practice / Q000193:education; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects