Need for Aged Care Hubs

Abstract

Background: The present study was undertaken to access the current availability and utilization of health care services by geriatric population and to find the need for specialized geriatric care hubs.

Methods: This is questionnaire-based survey conducted among 300 subjects of geriatric population for a period of 3 months in Bengaluru hospital set-up.

Results: Majority of study subjects were belonged to age group of 60-75 years. 81% were married; while 1.30% un-married, 2.30% divorced, 15.30% were widow. Majority of study subjects in our study, i.e., 30.30% were graduates followed by 28.70% and 15.70% were completed secondary and primary school level education respectively. While only 7.70% subjects were post graduates. However, 17.70% subjects were found to be illiterate in our study. We found 52% of study subjects were dependent for their financial requirements. Chi-square test showed significant association between health and medical care facilities with age (c2-31.24; p-0.002). 98% preferred to have separate specialized geriatric care hospitals in their respective area of residence with no significant association (c2=5.20; p-0.51). We found significant association between source of information and awareness of geriatric care facilities (c2=18.96; p-0.026). We found that 36% of subjects reckoned that application of information technology was helpful in geriatric care. Whereas, still majority of study subjects, i.e., 61% were not at all aware of information technology applications in geriatric (c2-12.62; p-0.049).

Conclusions: Provision of quality assured by elderly health-care hub for the elderly population is a must and is a challenge that requires joint approach and strategies. Failure to address the health needs today could develop into a costly problem tomorrow.