Informational yield of comprehensive Geriatric Home Assessment.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the relative informational yield of Geriatric Home Assessments with medical charts of patients seen in family practice settings.

Methods: The information from comprehensive Geriatric Home Assessments of 28 well-established patients, conducted by small groups of medical students in a family practice clerkship, was compared with information available in the medical charts of these patients for the previous three years.

Results: For no problem studied was identification in the medical chart as high as from the Geriatric Home Assessment. Problems with family/social support, inadequate dental care, and immunization deficiencies were frequently noted in the Geriatric Home Assessment but only rarely in the medical chart. Concordance between Geriatric Home Assessment and medical charts was greatest for depression/anxiety, sensory loss, smoking, dizziness, and sleep problems.

Conclusions: While evaluation of the utilization of information was beyond the scope of the current study, the results suggest the potential usefulness of complementing office care with home assessments in establishing a data base for the medical management of elderly patients in primary care settings.