[Investigating health team view points about cost-effective alternatives in elderly caring]

ABSTRACT

Global growth in the elderly population for both health care providers and families and also the community is an important challenge. Elders are the largest and fast factor for increasing hospital admissions in Society. Increasing costs of aging is the most concern to elders and their families. This study aimed to investigate the health teams approach about cost-effective alternatives for aging health services. This study is a qualitative research which was done through content analysis. 18 people consisting of five faculty members, 6doctors, 3 nurses and 4health public health expert were participated. Samples were selected based on purposive sampling. Data were collected through interviews. Four core themes derived from this study which included 1- Emphasis on training for aging care [including training doctors, nurses, health professionals, public health experts, elder sand their family caregivers]. 2- Emphasis on proper implementation of primary health care for the elderly. 3- Emphasis on home care for elderly.4-attntion to mental health of elderly. It seems effectiveness of tree alternatives; emphasis to training, home care and mental health for elderly are obvious and evident, so implementing and applying these suggestions would be helpful. But the second alternative; emphasis on proper implementation of primary health care for the elderly must be performed based on a comprehensive needs assessment in elders population. Finally it is stressed that calculating and comparing actual costs of each alternative in elders caring must be measured through quantitative researches