Difficulties encountered by the general practitioner in the management of the elderly people in complex medical and psycho-social condition: role of mobile teams

Objective. Assessed the difficulties encountered by general practitioners in the care of the elderly with complex medical and psycho-social conditions, their knowledge of the geriatric network, the interest engendered by setting-up mobile community based geriatric units. Methods. The survey was both qualitative and quantitative and took the form of a telephone interview and a multimodal questionnaire (telephone interview, postal or email questionnaire) of general practitioners in the areas of Annecy, Grenoble and Roanne (France). Results. Sixty five per cent of the 129 GPs contacted by telephone said the survey interested them. One hundred and eleven physicians replied to the questionnaire. The first priority for intervention of the mobile geriatric unit should be the management of the elderly with cognitive disorders and behavioural symptoms (43 replies) that pose the most problems for physicians. The mobile team should be available, and easy to contact rapidly. The request for intervention should be made by the GP (69 replies, 72.6%), by telephone (95 replies, 86%) and the visit made within the following 48 - 72 hours (60 replies, 674%). Discussion. Our results confirm the existence of difficulties in the care the elderly people with complex conditions that justify experimentation of community mobile geriatric teams.