The XI annual conference on geriatrics will begin with a hands-on workshop on stroke for general practitioners and physiotherapists. The three-hour workshop will be held at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital on Friday.
A total of 200 general practitioners are participating in the conference which has faculty from the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The GPs will be provided a set of guidelines including a booklet on evaluating elderly patients for various risk factors.
“Age is a risk factor for stroke. Every week, we see at least four persons with stroke and they need rehabilitation. In the aftermath of the golden period, they need physiotherapy and occupational therapy. Two physiotherapists will demonstrate how patients who are recuperating from stroke can be trained to carry on their work,” said a professor of geriatrics with the MMC.
Around 50 physiotherapists from across the country are participating in the workshop.
The workshop will also explain how GPs can assess elders for risk of falls and fractures. There will be sessions on assessment of cognition and management of behavioural problems in elders. MMC, CMC Vellore, All India Institute of Medical Sciences and Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences in Cochin are the only four institutes with full-fledged centres with postgraduates for geriatric medicine.
