Objective: To describe the needs of physicians for continuing education in geriatrics as perceived by patients and community informants.
Design: Cross-sectional survey by mail and in-person interviews.
Setting: Organizations working with the elderly in the community and patients in a primary care population in Calgary.
Participants: Key informants working with the elderly in the community, including managers and providers of physical, psychosocial, educational, or mental health services to the elderly, and the first two geriatric patients visiting physicians after telephone contact from study investigators were surveyed. Twenty-five of 27 key community informants and 32 of 61 geriatric patients responded.
Main outcome measure: Potential topics for continuing medical education.
Results: The 10 most frequently identified topics were communication, time management, attitudes to the elderly, medication, continuity of care, mental health, medical management of complicated cases, knowledge of community resources, health promotion, and compassion. Patients were more concerned than key informants about the process of care. Key informants were concerned about the technical aspects of care.
Conclusions: The process of care as well as technical aspects of care must be addressed in continuing education in geriatrics for physicians.