Is Geriatrics a Primary Care or Subspecialty Discipline?

Abstract

The vast majority of care provided to older persons by geriatricians is primary care, and these physicians should be considered as generalists for health policy and educational purposes.

Bringing a generalist approach to the problems of older patients

“…In fact, leaders in geriatrics are increasingly recognizing that geriatrics is fundamentally different from the traditional subspecialties of internal medicine, and is part and parcel of primary care. 4–6 …”

Can Geriatricians Maintain Separate Consultative and Primary Care Roles?

“…In addition to providing valuable resources and support to referring physicians, consultation services offer other potential benefits: they represent a model of geriatric care for others to follow; they serve a teaching function through the communication of findings and recommendations; and they create more visibility for the medical center within the community. Despite the apparent desirability and appeal of this type of service, recent evidence suggests that geriatricians act as outpatient consultants infrequently; most of their clinical time is devoted to rendering primary care to older patients 1–3 …”

Geriatric Medicine: We Are What We Do

“…What is the answer? Reuben et al, in this issue of the Journal, 4 present data on the type of clinical care geriatricians provide. According to these data—and if “form follows function” as the American architect Louis Henri Sullivan suggested 5 —geriatric medicine is clearly a primary care discipline.…”