title: [Patients' need for consultation after a geriatric assessment in family practice : Survey].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  During a doctor-patient consultation patients usually seek information by disclosing their reasons for requesting the encounter. Geriatric assessment allows a proactive examination of patients' overall health and function and provides an opportunity to broach issues beyond the initial purposes of the consultation.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The study aimed at investigating older patients' information seeking behavior following a geriatric assessment and the kind of topics they wished to discuss, taking a variety of patient and health-related factors into account.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 317 patients (≥ 70 years) underwent a geriatric assessment in 40 general practices. Subsequently they obtained a list of the problems uncovered and rated the relevance and information needs for each problem. Analyses consisted of determining the prevalence of information need for each health topic and identifying predictors in a mixed model (multilevel regression analysis).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 317 patients presented with a median of 11 health problems (interquartile range, IQR 8-14) and 80 % of the patients had information needs concerning only a few of the problems. High information needs were present for physical complaints and for vaccination issues. Little information seeking behavior was evident for unhealthy lifestyles, falls, limitations in daily activities and psychosocial problems. In the mixed model the personal relevance and the type of health problem both had a significant and independent effect on information seeking behavior.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A geriatric assessment generates a moderate need for information. It provides physicians with an opportunity to focus on those health problems that are important to older patients but not usually addressed in normal consultations. This particularly applies to limitations in daily activities and psychosocial problems.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Allgemeinmedizin, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625, Hannover, Deutschland. Afshar.Kambiz@mh-hannover.de.
authors.forename: Kambiz
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Afshar
authors.affiliation: Institut für Allgemeinmedizin, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625, Hannover, Deutschland.
authors.forename: Beate
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bokhof
authors.affiliation: Institut für Allgemeinmedizin, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625, Hannover, Deutschland.
authors.forename: Birgitt
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wiese
authors.affiliation: Institut für Epidemiologie, Sozialmedizin und Gesundheitssystemforschung, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Hannover, Deutschland.
authors.forename: Marie-Luise
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Dierks
authors.affiliation: Institut für Allgemeinmedizin, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625, Hannover, Deutschland.
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Junius-Walker
mesh_terms: D022126:Access to Information; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005194:Family Practice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D057226:Information Seeking Behavior; D008297:Male; D020380:Needs Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Communication; Frail elderly; General practice; Health services for the aged; Health status