WORLD JOURNAL OF ADVANCE
HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

*Shawq Khalis Alashab and Sally Alaa Mohammed Rida

ABSTRACT

Background: As the global old population grows, so does their use of healthcare services like hospitals, making it crucial to know how to handle them. In Iraq, geriatric health initiatives are developing, therefore physicians must be knowledgeable about this vital demographic. Objectives: Assess the level of knowledge of doctors in Al-Yarmouk teaching hospital regarding elderly health and trying to focus on the core weakness in their knowledge trying to overcome it. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study with analytic element covering 250 physicians in Al-Yarmouk teaching hospital of both sexes, different specialties and different job descriptions who were available at the time of data collection. Data collection was done using written 18-questions valid questionnaire. Results: Only (12%) of doctors in collected sample had good knowledge while (51.6%) of the doctors had fair knowledge and the remaining (36.4%) had poor knowledge. There was a highly significant association between receiving a training course in geriatric health and the level of knowledge, so the doctors who received training had good level of knowledge as compared with other doctors who did not. There is no significant association between doctors’ level of knowledge and their gender, age, educational level, specialty, job description, years of experience and whether live with elderly or not. Conclusion: Nearly half of doctors who participated in this study had a fair level of knowledge with significant association between training in geriatric health care and good level of knowledge which highlights the importance of integrating geriatric health care into undergraduate and postgraduate curricula.

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