Family Medicine and Primary Care Internal Medicine Residents' Attitudes Toward Care of the Elderly

Family medicine and primary care internal medicine residents in a university training program were surveyed about their attitudes toward caring for the elderly. Respondents reported satisfaction with care of the elderly. They considered caring for elderly patients to be medically challenging and reported that they learned an appreciable amount of medicine from elderly patients. The residents were less positive about their impact on elderly patients' health and the quality of care they delivered. Rather than supporting the belief that residents have negative attitudes toward the elderly, the study suggests this group of residents has positive attitudes about caring for this population. Their more negative responses about caring for this population. Their more negative responses about the quality of care they deliver suggest they would be receptive to learning more about delivery of health care to the elderly.