Abstract

BACKGROUND:
It is important for primary health care (PHC) physicians to possess adequate knowledge and attitude
towards geriatrics to cope with the increasing number of elderly patients care during their daily
practice.
OBJECTIVE:
To assess the knowledge and attitude of PHC physicians towards elderly and to study the relation
between some factors with physicians’ knowledge and attitude.
PATIENTS AND METHODS:
A cross sectional study was conducted in 31 PHC centers in Baghdad/Al-Karkh for a period of 3
months from 1st of March to the end of May 2018.
A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection which covered some physicians'
characteristics.
RESULTS:
Out of 225 PHC physicians working at the chosen PHC centers, 200 physicians enrolled in
the study, with a response rate of 88.88%. The results showed that only 27.5% of physicians had
good knowledge levels and 117 (58.5%) had positive attitude. Better levels of knowledge and
attitude were achieved by family physicians, females in addition to those who work for less
than 5 years in PHC centers.
CONCLUSION:
Despite positive attitude of physicians towards elderly, better training and continuing medical
education are important to improve the knowledge of physicians to ensure better services.