Caring for older patients in primary care

Most seniors are independent but many havemultiple chronic conditions and meet criteriafor frailty. For these people, traditional modelsand organization of care might not be ideal. The senior-friendlyhospital (SFH) model has been promoted as a way of improving care of older patients and decreasingnegative effects resulting from hospitalization. Although a higher proportion of older people are seen infamily physicians' offices than are admitted to hospital, the concept of senior-friendly primary care has not beenwell articulated or promoted in Canada. The numberof visits is high; in 2009, almost twice as many seniorsvisited their family physicians 10 times a year or morecompared with nonsenior adults (9.7% vs 5.5%). The SFH movement took hold in Canada after largecollaborative efforts were able to convince governments and policy makers of the benefits of senior-friendlycare. Given the pressures on primary care, it will be an equally large challenge to gain support for the senior-friendlyprimary care concept.