Prescribing in primary care for the older people

OBJECTIVE: To assess doctor's knowledge, attitude and practices, which influence their prescribing for older people.

METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study conducted by the primary health care physicians working in the primary health care centers in Riyadh city, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during April 2001 to July 2001. A hundred physicians in randomly selected primary health care centers in Riyadh were asked to fill a structured questionnaire to assess their knowledge, attitude and practices on prescribing for older people.

RESULTS: The study showed 56% of the physicians thought that number of older people in PHC is increasing, 65% of physicians felt confident in dealing with older people, 27% of physicians thought that patient's family influenced their decision in prescribing older people. Forty-seven percent of physicians considered that patient being older influenced their decision to prescribe and 50% of the participating physicians showed poor knowledge mainly in the area of drugs.

CONCLUSION: There is an evident defect in physician knowledge in prescribing for the older people. In depth, research is badly needed on various aspects of therapeutics to this age group. A robust prescribing strategy is required to address the issue of suitable prescribing for the older people in primary care.