Prescribing in primary care for the older people.
OBJECTIVE
To assess doctor's knowledge, attitude and practices, which influence their prescribing for older people.


METHODS
This is a cross-sectional study conducted by the primary health care physicians working in the primary health care centers in Riyadh city, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during April 2001 to July 2001. A hundred physicians in randomly selected primary health care centers in Riyadh were asked to fill a structured questionnaire to assess their knowledge, attitude and practices on prescribing for older people.


RESULTS
The study showed 56% of the physicians thought that number of older people in PHC is increasing, 65% of physicians felt confident in dealing with older people, 27% of physicians thought that patient's family influenced their decision in prescribing older people. Forty-seven percent of physicians considered that patient being older influenced their decision to prescribe and 50% of the participating physicians showed poor knowledge mainly in the area of drugs.


CONCLUSIONS
There is an evident defect in physician knowledge in prescribing for the older people. In depth, research is badly needed on various aspects of therapeutics to this age group. A robust prescribing strategy is required to address the issue of suitable prescribing for the older people in primary care.
Al-Doghether
Mohammed H
MH
Center of Postgraduate Studies in Family Medicine, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. doghether@hotmail.com
Al-Megbil
Tarek I
TI
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005853:Geriatrics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires