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PubMed1977

The elderly in family practice: an evaluation of the geriatric visiting nurse.

The Geriatric Visiting Nurse (GVN) is a health-care professional who, assisted by a checklist, screens patients in their homes, carries out basic tests, and facilitates effective follow-up of patients. Utilization of the GVN in a rural Well-Elderly Clinic associated with the University of Iowa Department of Family Practice is described, and the GVN's participation in the clinic is compared with the screening services provided for physicians by geriatric nurses in advanced communities in various countries. Subject to careful planning, the GVN can play an important role in case-finding, and can, when incorporated into the family practice team, promote efficient utilization of the physician's time.

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The nonuse of free health-screening by rural elderly.

We studied the population of noninstitutionalized elderly persons in Iowa County, Iowa, who had not used a well-elderly clinic offering free home or clinic assessments by a nurse. Questionnaires were administered by trained interviewers to a sample of the nonuser population, 60 years of age and over (n = 360). Fifty-five percent did not know that there was a well-elderly clinic in the county in spite of widespread advertising. Nonusers who had heard of the clinic were more highly educated and had more transportation problems than nonusers who were aware of the clinic. Sixty percent of those who saw no point in going to a doctor if they were feeling well were unaware of the clinic. Nonusers tended to be older, living on farms, mobile, long-time residents, and 54 percent had less than a high school education. The cost of health care was not a problem. The major reason given for not using the clinic was that the person was "under a doctor's care." Those who had no regular doctor did not plan to use the clinic because they felt healthy.

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