A survey of physicians who care for older persons in Southwest China

Abstract

Objective

The aim of this survey is to determine the main barriers of geriatric health care from the physicians’ point of view and compare the improvement before and after the Continue Medical Education (CME) provided by International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (IAGG).

Design

Cross-sectional survey.

Setting and Participants

Five hundred samples were generated using systematic random sampling from the address lists of physicians in Southwest China who had received the IAGG CME or been trained in Sichuan Association of Geriatrics (SAG) CME.

Measurements

The interview instrument examined demographics and information on geriatric education.

Results

Of the 500 physician sampled, 461(92.2 percent) responded. 34.3 percent of the respondents reported that over 70 percent of their patients were older persons. 76.8 percent of the respondents felt that they lacked geriatric knowledge. Only 15.6 percent of the respondents had geriatric curriculum before graduation, and 26.0 percent received geriatric trainings after graduation. Most physicians felt that “Language barrier” and “Insufficient geriatric education in undergraduate medical school and postgraduate education” were the main challenges in practicing geriatric medicine. Geriatric training and knowledge are inadequate due to the lack of geriatric curriculums in medical schools and CME for physicians who practice geriatrics. With the help of IAGG, CME in Southwest China provided more workshops on geriatric progress in year 2011 than in year 2007–2010. Eighty percent of the physicians acknowledged that the IAGG CME was helpful for their clinical practice. The physicians paid more attention to geriatric syndromes rather than age-related pathophysiology alone.

Conclusion

CME provided by geriatric associations is helpful. Collaboration between different geriatric societies such as IAGG and SAG may be a good model for spreading geriatric knowledge and should be considered by medical educational administration.