Attitudes toward the geriatric patient among family practice residents

For the Family Practitioner, elderly patients are a highly significant group. In the past, some health professionals have expressed negative attitudes toward the elderly. Thus a need exists to study specific factors that may influence a Family Practice resident's willingness to treat older patients. A Likert-type questionnaire was developed that utilized the Thurstone-Likert discrimination technique. Five categories were chosen for study: general attitudes, cost effectiveness, time and energy, therapeutic potential, and educational preparation. Responses of 150 Family Practice residents were then analyzed. The attitudes of the residents were significantly positive in all categories except Educational Preparation. Noteworthy was the finding that the attitudes improved from the first year through the third year of residency. This is the first medical specialty group to demonstrate such a trend. Certain negative attitudes observed in the Educational Preparation category re-emphasize the need for training programs to improve professional geriatric instruction.