Geriatric medicine in practice. An overview
Sturmberg, J.P.; Death, J.
Australian Family Physician 29(10): 954-956
2000
ISSN/ISBN: 0300-8495 PMID: 11059085 Document Number: 513347
Older patients with chronic health problems are a common presentation in general practice. The Central Coast Division of General Practice identified 'care of the elderly' as one of the priorities for local membership. This is the first in a series of articles based on the 'Geriatric Attachment Programme', which was jointly developed between the Division of General Practice and the Department of Geriatric Medicine, Central Coast Health. The recent introduction of the Health Assessment and Health Care Plans for the elderly into the Medical Benefit Schedule encourages preventive and anticipatory care. Doing this successfully requires a structured approach. This series will offer a practical guidance approach to enable readers to achieve this goal. In this article we provide an overview of the issues important to the care of the elderly. Subsequent articles deal with specific issues in detail.