Older doctors more often than young colleagues showed ignorance of the exact indications for prescribing a priority drug: among specialists over 70 years old, only 15% gave correct answers. In addition, 40% of respondents older than this age had cognitive disorders, the study showed. age dynamics of the professional competencies of a doctor, conducted by scientists of the Research Institute of Public Health named after. ON THE. Semashko and the Moscow Regional Scientific Research Medical Institute. M.F. Vladimirsky (MONIKI), published in the first issue of the Health of the Megapolis magazine in 2023.
| The objects of the study were 288 doctors of various specialties studying at the Faculty of Improvement, Department of General Medical Practice (Family Medicine) MONIKI. Most of the respondents are general practitioners (164) and general practitioners (78). Medical experience varied from 4 to 48 years. |
It turned out that less than half (45.14%) of doctors know the exact indications for prescribing a priority drug. Only one respondent out of five (19.1%) correctly indicated contraindications, and interactions with other drugs – only two doctors out of 100 (2.1%). At the same time, the doctor’s awareness of which medicine should be a priority was greatly reduced in older specialists: in the group of doctors with more than 31 years of experience, only 37% gave the correct answer, while in the group with experience from 16 to 30 years, 70%. Only every tenth doctor over the age of 51 (11.8%) correctly identified all contraindications. For comparison: in the group of doctors younger than this age, the correct answers were given almost twice as often (19%).
Even worse were the results in the group of specialists older than 70 years. Doctors were asked to name indications and contraindications for substances against anaphylactic shock: epinephrine hydrochloride, atropine sulfate and diphenhydramine. As a result, not a single respondent aged 70 years and older could name any contraindications for the use of atropine sulfate and diphenhydramine (0% correct answers). For comparison: in the youngest group (23-29 years old) the proportion of correct answers was 42%, in the group of 60-69 years old – 38.1%.
Respondents in the 70+ group also showed the worst knowledge of regulatory documents: only 20% knew the procedure for providing medical care established in Russia and the standards for the number of beds. For comparison: in the group of young doctors up to 29 years old, almost all respondents (91%) showed knowledge of the standards, specialists aged 60-69 years old (88.4%) also responded well.
According to the results of the memory test, it turned out that 4.3% of respondents had mild cognitive impairments: while in groups under 69 the percentage of impairments did not exceed 7-8%, then in the age group of 70+ it was 40%.
In recent years, more and more medical specialists of older age groups (60+) have appeared, which is mainly due to the global aging of the population, the authors of the study note. Today in Russia every fifth doctor belongs to this age group, and every fourth in the USA. According to the University of Michigan (USA), the majority (71%) of surgeons continue their regular practice after the age of 60, and 38% operate at the age of 70.
