Recorded presentation

Richard H. Fortinsky, PhD, Ianita Zlateva, and Chaewon Song, MD. University of Connecticut Center on Aging, University of Connecticut Health Center, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, CT 06030-5215, 860-679-8069, fortinsky@nso1.uchc.edu

Primary care physicians (PCPs) face growing numbers of dementia patients and family caregivers seeking linkage to community services specializing in dementia support. Little is known about how well PCPs provide linkage to such community services. Objectives: Determine PCPs’ self-confidence in advising about, and referral rates to, community services; Determine PCP characteristics associated with greater self-confidence and greater referral likelihood. Methods: 600 of 2,100 Connecticut licensed PCPs were randomly selected to receive questionnaires. Of the 309 PCPs (52%) that returned questionnaires between May-October 2003, 175 had office-based practices (sample PCPs). Dependent variables: self-confidence advising about community services; any dementia patient/family referrals in the previous year to adult day care (ADC), respite care (RC), local Alzheimer’s Association (AA), family support group (FSG), and patient support group (PSG). Independent variables: Gender, years since medical school graduation, number of dementia patients. Results: 35% of sample PCPs were female. Self-confidence: 60% were “somewhat” or “very” confident advising about community services. PCPs graduating medical school >30 years ago were more than 6 times as likely to report self-confidence as PCPs graduating <10 years ago (odds ratio (OR)=6.6). Referral rates: ADC: 85%; RC: 34%; AA: 29%; FSG: 27%; PSG: 21%. Female PCPs were more likely than males to refer to ADC (OR=3.9) and FSG (OR=5.3). PCPs with >20 dementia patients were more likely to refer to all services than physicians with <10 patients. Conclusions: Much room for improvement remains in linking PCPs with community services under study; PCP subgroups can be targeted for outreach to improve links.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to

• Discuss primary care physicians' reported level of confidence about community service advice they offer to patients with dementia and their families.
• Summarize the relative frequency with which primary care physicians report referring dementia patients and their families to different community services.
• Explain which physician characteristics are associated with greater confidence about community service advice they offer dementia patients and their families.
• Explain which physician characteristics are associated with a greater likelihood of referring dementia patients and their families to specific types of community services.

Keywords: Physicians, Dementia

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation