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The Older Patient at Home

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The Role of Family Physicians in Older People Care

Part of the book series: Practical Issues in Geriatrics ((PIG))

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Abstract

Ageing societies and technological achievements are changing dramatically the practice of family medicine/primary care and are leading to new models of care delivery to older patients in their homes.

In the first part of the chapter, we point out how the role of home-based primary care has changed in the last decades, and we discuss the available evidence about the clinical- and cost-effectiveness of home care.

In the second part of the chapter, we describe the types of home visits generally performed by general practitioners, namely, acute illness visits, preventive and periodic visits for homebound and frail patients, follow-up visits after hospitalization, and home-based palliative care. Furthermore, we discuss the home visit bag equipment (including the diagnostic possibilities offered by portable technologies) and an outline of the points to be addressed to perform a comprehensive home assessment.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General Practice, University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

    Peter Konstantin Kurotschka

  2. EduCare Lab, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy

    Maria Stella Padula & Alice Serafini

  3. Local Health Trust Modena, Modena, Italy

    Maria Stella Padula & Alice Serafini

  4. Italian College of General Practitioners and Primary Care, Florence, Italy

    Maria Stella Padula & Maria Teresa Zedda

  5. Regional Health Trust of Sardinia, Cagliari, Italy

    Maria Teresa Zedda

  6. ASP Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy

    Pietro Gareri

Authors
  1. Peter Konstantin Kurotschka
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  2. Maria Stella Padula
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  3. Maria Teresa Zedda
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  4. Pietro Gareri
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  5. Alice Serafini
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter Konstantin Kurotschka .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Primary Care Department USL Toscana Sud Est, Grosseto, Italy

    Jacopo Demurtas

  2. Department of Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy

    Nicola Veronese

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Kurotschka, P.K., Padula, M.S., Zedda, M.T., Gareri, P., Serafini, A. (2022). The Older Patient at Home. In: Demurtas, J., Veronese, N. (eds) The Role of Family Physicians in Older People Care. Practical Issues in Geriatrics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78923-7_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78923-7_15

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-78922-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-78923-7

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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