Barriers and attitudes of family and internal medicine residents toward geriatric patients: A cross-sectional analytical study

Abstract

Background: In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the 2016 Census indicated that there were more than 1 million people aged 65 years and older, representing 3.3% of the population. Increased life expectancy will lead to a significant increase in the elderly population in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by 5-fold (18%) in 2050. Aim: This study aimed to measure internal medicine and family medicine residents’ attitudes toward elderly patients and evaluate their interest in and barriers to geriatric medicine at King Saud University Medical City. Method: A cross-sectional observational analytical study using a convenient sampling method was performed in the internal medicine and family medicine departments at King Saud University Medical City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, from April 2017 to August 2017. The total sample size was 101 residents. Data were collected via an online survey using a predesigned validated questionnaire (University of California at Los Angeles Geriatrics Attitudes Scale). Results: The results showed a neutral attitude of both family and internal medicine residents with p=0.9 and p=0.6, respectively, without any significant association with their training levels. Moreover, this study showed that 87% of the residents were not willing to consider geriatric medicine as a subspecialty due to the unavailability of a local geriatric training program (59.5%), whereas the cognitive capacity of the patients was the least barrier chosen by the residents (4.8%). Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, most of the participants did not receive training in geriatric medicine, which mandates the need for early exposure to geriatric training in medical schools and the need to integrate this type of training within the major postgraduate training programs of the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties .