Education of general practitioners improves the health of their elderly patients

Medical education of general practitioners has seldom shown benefit to elderly people. On p 683 Kerse et al report an Australian randomised controlled trial that tested the effect of an educational and clinical practice audit intervention for general practitioners on the health behaviours and wellbeing of elderly patients. After 1 year, elderly patients attending general practitioners in the intervention group recalled talking to their doctor about physical activity more often and walked up to one and a half hours per fortnight more than those in the control group. Self rated health status and frequency of social activities increased in the intervention group. Extrapolation of the benefits of increased activity predicts a 22% reduction in mortality.

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Relevant Article

Improving the health behaviours of elderly people: randomised controlled trial of a general practice education programme

Ngaire M Kerse, Leon Flicker, Damien Jolley, Bruce Arroll, and Doris Young
BMJ 1999 319: 683-687. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]