استعرض مصدر Study of Comprehensive Geriatric Care in Sharkia Governorate


To cite this article:

Mohammed Nabil Mahmoud Abo-Elela, Osama Abdel-Aziz Mohammed Fakher, Mahmoud Elsayed Abd-Elaty. Study of Comprehensive
Geriatric Care in Sharkia Governorate. Journal of Family Medicine and Health Care. Vol. 3, No. 4, 2017, pp. 63-74.

doi: 10.11648/j.jfmhc.20170304.11

Received: October 10, 2017; Accepted: October 23, 2017; Published: November 15, 2017

Abstract: Background: In recent years, there has been a sharp increase in the number of older persons all over the world.
The number of people aged 60 years and over is expected to increase to 2 billion by the year 2050. One of the greatest
challenges in geriatrics is the provision of optimal comprehensive geriatric care for older adults. Family physicians can
improve the early identification of specific problems that are common in the elderly and also shift their focus from disease
specific intervention to preventive care. Objectives: To improve the health of geriatrics through identifying health problems
among the studied geriatric population in Sharkia governorate and determining the level of the family physicians' knowledge
and practice of comprehensive geriatric care in Sharkia governorate. Subjects and methods: A cross-sectional study was
conducted, it was conducted in 9 accredited family health centers in Sharkia governorate for one year. The family health
centers were selected by stratified random sampling technique from health centers of Sharkia governorate. The sample
included 630 elderly person and 52 family physicians. Results: The results of this study declared that the most prevalent selfreported
morbidities were, diabetes mellitus (36.7%), hypertension (33.5%) and respiratory disease (20.2%). The results also
showed that (76.9%) of the studied family physicians have adequate knowledge about physical problems of the elderly
population and (25%) of the studied family physicians have adequate performance in taking personal history, abdominal
examination and counseling of the elderly population. Conclusion: The more prevalent self-reported morbidities among the
studied geriatric population were, diabetes mellitus, hypertension and respiratory diseases. Most of family physicians had
inadequate level of performance as regard physicians performance during dealing with geriatric patients. Recommendations:
The study highlighted the need to promote geriatric health care services, regular health checkup and social support by people.
Continuous training of family physicians specially in comprehensive geriatric care for providing high quality of care for
elderly population.

Keywords: Comprehensive Geriatric Care, Geriatric Problems, Family Physicians