Medical Students' Attitudes:

Although education in the care of the elderly is widely recommended for all medical students, the specifics of this aspect of pressional education are widely variable and their effects unclear. This study evaluated the effects of a short-term interdisciplinary clinical rotation in geriatrics on medical student attitudes toward elderly patients, as well as attitudes toward non-physician health professionals. We also evaluated whether assignment to long-term care facilities as geriatrics clinical sites had a deleterious effect on attitudes of medical students taking this rotation. Our analysis demonstrated no measurable beneficial effects of the week-long geriatrics rotation on medical student attitudes toward elderly patients. The brief rotation did improve student attitudes toward the importance of non-physician health professionals in patient care; at the end of the course the students had more positive attitudes toward social workers, psychologists, and occupational therapists. Assignment to long-term care clinical sites during this geriatric curriculum had no negative effect on student attitudes toward elderly patients. This study suggets that clinical geriatrics education in long-term care settings need not adversly affect medical students' attitudes toward the elderly. Furthermore, medical students' attitudes toward health professionals caring for the elderly may be positively influenced by even a short didactic and clinical experience in geriatrics which emphasizes the interdisciplinary approach.     

An analysis of questionnaires about geriatric medicine/medical education sent to members of the Japanese Society of General Medicine]

Geriatric medical care can be viewed as general medical care for the elderly. We conducted a survey of members of the Japanese Society of General Medicine who belong to a university hospital, on their views of geriatric medicine/medical education. The questionnaires consisted of six categories of items about: (1) the physician's career; (2) whether the physician performs geriatric research in his/her laboratory; (3) whether the physician has an interest in geriatric medicine or medical education; (4) the physician's views on geriatric medicine or medical education; (5) of what pre- and post-graduate medical education on geriatric medicine should consist, from the physician's point of view: and (6) the physician's ideas about geriatric medicine/medical education in view of general medicine. Out of the 181 questionnaires sent, 96 (53%) people replied, of whom 51 (53.1%) were members of a Department of General Medicine, 57 (60%) were teaching staff, 46 (48.4%) had experience in home medical care such as home visits, and 17 (18.1%) belonged to the Japanese Society of Geriatric Medicine. Seventy-six respondents (85.4%) had an interest in geriatric medicine/medical education. Of the respondents, 96.8% recognized the need for pre- and post-graduate medical education concerning geriatrics. Some members of the Japanese Society of General Medicine who answered the questionnaire see geriatric medicine as entirely general medicine, and also that geriatric medicine is important, necessary and special. In addition, they see that the field of geriatric medicine is not yet developed in regard to geriatric medical care and education. Most respondents could not specify which section in a medical university is responsible for teaching the fields of basic and social medicine. This result shows that it may be difficult to incorporate pre-graduate geriatric medical education into the curriculum. As part of the pre-graduate curriculum of medical education on geriatrics, a practical exercise such as inspection of a geriatric hospital and geriatric home was considered most desirable by the respondents. Out of nine items, the top three most important aspects of post-graduate medical education on geriatrics for clinical and social medicine, were (1) studying the medical care and welfare of the elderly, (2) assessing the impaired life function of the elderly, and (3) studying pharmaco- therapy. Out of 6 items, the top three most important aspects of a practical exercise in post-graduate medical education in geriatrics were (1) providing general care to the elderly, (2) giving rehabilitation guidance and (3) providing psychological support for the elderly. Furthermore, 20 of the respondents (22.5%) have performed geriatric medical research on either the activities of daily life of the elderly or living wills, both of which seem to reflect the health and life of elderly people.     

Relationship of the community in National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology

Acute hospital has to have a good community relationship because of looking for a services and settings after discharge for elderly patients. In particular, physicians should have good relations with other physicians, visiting nurses, and care managers, because elderly patients had to go to facilities or nursing homes instead of their own homes. We must obtain information concerning care services and build networks between hospitals and the community in order to provide good services. To enable this we established a good discharge support team. We also have to educate the staff and care managers to take good care of patients. A comprehensive geriatrics and team approach is important for geriatric medicine in the community through care conference. So geriatricians must take part in care conferences and take a leadership role in networks for people with care needs. Finally our national center for geriatrics and gerontology has to take a role of the future achievement in geriatric field and provide information related research and clinical activity for the elderly.     

Comprehensive geriatric medicine

This paper is written to make clear the new medical system in the elderly and to standardize of Geriatrics and care. There are two major important components in geriatrics and geriatric care which are comprehensive geriatric assessment and team approach. But this is sometimes difficulut to do geriatric medicine. This goal is to make clear the usefulness of comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) and team approach. And the research purpose is to make standardization of geriatric medicine and care of elderly patients and organization of professionals. I have studied QOL of elderly people in the community. The scale, SF36, was used in this study. I compared with QOL between elderly with dementia and healthy elderly. QOL was studied with statistical analysis of SPSS. Physical function and symptomatic vitality in lower items of QOL were much better in health people than demented elderly. But global subjective health was much better in demented elderly than healthy people in the community. And I made clinical path of dementia for examination in the hospital. The results were clinical path made clear the importance of team approaches and standard of medical course in the hospital. It was helpful in medicine and care and its bindings. Dr. Murashima and her group have developed a new check list of screening risk factor of long stay of elderly inpatient. And they studied about the effects of supportive group for discharge using assessment and team approaches. This unit has a good function which support home care of the elderly patients. Finally narrative based medicine is very important to take care for the elderly patients. It has been lacked to do the present medicine for the elderly patient by evidence based medicine. In conclusion, for the standardization of geriatrics, CGA is useful for support for the frail elderly and team approach is good for staff communication through team conference.     

Gerontological education in Japan--geriatric education and training.

There are 13 academic geriatric departments among 80 medical schools in Japan as of November 1991. The first independent department was established in 1962 at Tokyo University. The undergraduate education program includes lectures in geriatrics (20 hours/year in 11/12 medical schools), bedside teaching at geriatric ward (6/12 medical schools, 66 hours on average per year). The theme of lectures are diverse and incorporate all the three major fields in gerontology: biology of aging, clinical geriatrics and socio-economical aspects of aging society. The postgraduate geriatric education is carried out mainly at university setting and most of the medical schools (83%) accept graduate students who are trained at independent geriatric ward (92%) as well as at outpatient clinics. In 1989, Japan Geriatrics Society started a new certification system by which 687 MDs have been temporarily certified in geriatrics. The first examination will be given by the society in 1992 and the eligibility to sit in the examination requires three years geriatrics fellowship after certification in medicine or general surgery. The curriculum proposed by the society shares many items of training in common with those found in north American and in Europe. Some points of suggestions and recommendations were presented for future improvement in the education of gerontology in Japan.     

Gerontological education in Japan--in training of social welfare personnel and nurses.

Though Japan is noted for the custom of respect for the elderly, gerontological education is not widely practiced. At present it is only done in the training of several professionals and semi-professionals in health and welfare services for the elderly, i.e., medical doctors, nurses, social workers, and care workers for the disabled and older persons. In the training of social workers who are expected to serve as the pivot of a team for psycho-social help and caregiving, gerontological education is given as a part of social work education. In schools for care workers for the disabled and older persons that are two-year vocational schools, practical gerontological knowledge and skills needed in the care of the elderly are taught as an important base for their future work. In schools of nursing, most of which are two-year or three-year vocational schools in Japan, gerontological education is included as an indispensable component of the curriculum and is being given increasing importance these days.     

The department of internal medicine: hub of the academic health center response to the aging imperative

In the 21st century, geriatrics will increasingly dominate U.S. health care as the median age of the population progressively increases. Academic departments of geriatrics have been created in nations that have already experienced this shift. As an alternative strategy that builds on traditional strengths of academic medicine in the United States, departments of internal medicine should lead a multidepartmental, pan-institutional response to the aging imperative. Recognition of gerontology and geriatric medicine as central to the missions of internal medicine in clinical care, education, and research must be increased. In the process, academic departments of internal medicine will develop a high level of geriatric expertise and will launch many programs that address this challenge. Successful development of geriatric programs will serve as a catalyst to strengthen the integration among and between generalists and subspecialists. This will entail developing optimal sites and systems of geriatric care--at different levels of care and over time--that can enhance the geriatric education of medical students, residents, fellows, and practicing physicians. The study of aging and geriatric health care will also become an integral part of departmental research, in its subspecialty divisions as well as its divisions of general internal medicine and geriatrics. This strategy is urgently recommended as both a challenge and an opportunity for all departments of internal medicine.     

Capturing the power of academic medicine to enhance health and health care of the elderly in the USA

As in Japan, the US population is aging progressively, a trend that will challenge the health-care system to provide for the chronic, multiple and complex needs of its elderly citizens. and as in Japan, the US academic health enterprise has only belatedly mounted a response to that challenge. Herein is reviewed a quarter of a century of the author's personal experience in developing new programs in gerontology and geriatric medicine from a base in the Department of Internal Medicine at three US academic health centers (AHC): The University of Washington (as Division Head), Johns Hopkins University (as Vice-Chair), and Wake Forest University (as Chair). Rather than to build a program from a new department of geriatrics, this strategy was chosen to capture the power and resources of the department of internal medicine, the largest university department, to 'gerontologize' the institution, beginning with general internal medicine and all of the medical subspecialties (the approach also chosen to date at all but a handful of US AHC). The keystone of success at each institution has been careful faculty development through fellowship training in clinical geriatrics, education and research. Over the same interval major national progress has occurred, including expanded research and training at the National Institute on Aging and the Department of Veterans Affairs, and accreditation of more than 100 fellowship programs for training and certification of geriatricians. However, less than 1% of US medical graduates elect to pursue such training. Hence such geriatricians will remain concentrated at AHC, and most future geriatric care in the USA will be provided by a broad array of specialists, who will be educated and trained in geriatrics by these academic geriatricians.     

Teaching of geriatric health in India: Mapping the terrain

ABSTRACT

India is currently undergoing a rapid demographic transition along with a dramatic upsurge in the number of elderly adults. Creating a cadre of specialized health care professionals in geriatric medicine is clearly vital to address the health care needs of this growing population. The authors undertook a mapping of the available academic programs in geriatric health in India and examined their content, duration, architecture, and student intake. A total of 20 programs were identified in geriatric health, thus highlighting a paucity of training options in this field. Compared to Western countries, relatively few programs are offered in clinical and public health geriatrics in India. This is further compounded by an insignificant thrust of geriatrics in undergraduate health professional curricula. Our results underscore the need for a national-level curricular initiative to strengthen and mainstream the teaching of geriatric health in the country. Alternative educational strategies such as blended learning and interprofessional education should be explored to enhance geriatric health workforce competence.     

Web-based framework for improving geriatric education

Despite the growth in the elderly population, physicians with special geriatric training and certification number only 9,000 out of 650,000 doctors in the United States. The flexibility and increasing availability of the Internet makes it an ideal avenue for addressing the educational needs of health care providers to improve the health and care of older adults. We performed an Internet search using popular search engines. This yielded between 321 and 358,000 websites about geriatrics and 164 to 175,000 about geriatric education. This paper reviews popular health and medical Web sites to determine geriatric educational content and proposes a structure for an "ideal" geriatric Web site that would provide resources and enhance training for allied health professionals, physicians in training and community doctors in practice. We also propose a framework addressing the design and content for developing a geriatric specific website. We use this framework to propose a prototype resource on falls and gait instability.     

Integrating geriatric content into a medical school curriculum: description of a successful model

Most medical school curricula do not equip students with adequate attitudes, knowledge and skills to care for elderly populations. We describe an effective geriatric curricular infusion model compatible with preserving the overall curricula schema. Course and clerkship directors, staff and faculty from the Office of Educational Development, Center on Aging, curriculum committee and Associate/Assistant Deans of Education, and faculty from the schools of medicine, nursing, and allied health collaborated in the effort. Each of these components and institutional financial commitment were critical to successful basic science and clinical geriatric content infusion addressing the American Geriatric Society (AGS) Core Competencies. Delivery modalities included problem- based learning cases, lectures, standardized patient portrayals for teaching and assessment, and experiential activities with elderly. Assessments were conducted and outcomes tracked in several ways, including: (1) annual course reviews, focus groups, and student evaluations; (2) mandatory geriatrics 4th year graduation competency exam; and, (3) AAMC Graduation Questionnaire responses. Initial data indicate that student knowledge and competencies have increased with increasing exposure in the desired areas, and support infusion as a viable approach to enhancing gerontology and geriatric curricular content.     

Transformation of a Geriatric Department in China

China has the world's largest elderly population, and the oldest‐old population, with a current disability rate greater than 50%, will triple in the next 35 years. The field of geriatrics is young, because almost all geriatric departments were established after 2000, and so faces many challenges. Management of diseases and hospital care is the focus. Senior physicians were trained in other subspecialties, such as pulmonary or cardiology, and junior physicians entered geriatrics departments as masters or doctorate students after medical school. The inadequacy of post‐acute and long‐term care facilities has caused long hospital stays. There are no national systematic geriatric training programs, national board examinations, or qualifications in geriatrics. These challenges were used as a framework for guiding changes in the Department of Geriatrics at West China Hospital, Sichuan University. These changes have included international experiences and collaboration for physicians and nurses, revision of departmental conferences, and special training for a unique group of caregivers called hugong (untrained caregivers hired by families to be at the bedside of hospitalized individuals). The most significant yet challenging part of the transformation has been to develop and modify Western‐based geriatric models of care (e.g., Acute Care of the Elderly unit, delirium prevention and management models, palliative care). Lastly, the department established Tianxia (in the sky) Doctors, an internet‐based platform to connect the department's interdisciplinary team to other hospitals, nursing institutions, home‐based care service stations, community health service centers, and pharmacies throughout the region.     

The Consortium of E-Learning in Geriatrics Instruction

This paper describes the activities of the Consortium of E-Learning in Geriatrics Instruction (CELGI), a group dedicated to creating, using, and evaluating e-learning to enhance geriatrics education. E-learning provides a relatively new approach to addressing geriatrics educators' concerns, such as the shortage of professionals trained to care for older people, overcrowded medical curricula, the move to transfer teaching venues to community settings, and the switch to competency-based education models. However, this innovative education technology is facing a number of challenges as its use and influence grow, including proof of effectiveness and efficiency. CELGI was created in response to these challenges, with the goal of facilitating the development and portability of e-learning materials for geriatrics educators. Members represent medical and nursing schools, the Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare system, long-term care facilities, and other institutions that rely on continuing streams of quality health education. CELGI concentrates on providing a coordinated approach to formulating and adapting specifications, standards, and guidelines; developing education and training in e-learning competencies; developing e-learning products; evaluating the effect of e-learning materials; and disseminating these materials. The vision of consortium members is that e-learning for geriatric education will become the benchmark for valid and successful e-learning throughout medical education.     

Healthcare professional training: a comparison of geriatric competencies

Health professionals specializing in geriatrics are a unique but scarce resource who nevertheless play a critical role in shaping the care of older adults. An interdisciplinary didactic and clinical training milieu would have the potential to maximize training opportunities for geriatric healthcare professionals. The fact that little is known about the concordance between discipline-specific geriatric competencies hampers the creation of interdisciplinary geriatric training opportunities. Discipline-specific geriatric experts compared the geriatric competencies specified by geriatric-certifying bodies of five healthcare professions: dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and social work. Overlap and differences in geriatric competencies across disciplines are presented, and opportunities and barriers to interdisciplinary geriatric education are discussed.     

Geriatrics in Brazil: a big country with big opportunities

Brazil has approximately 180 million inhabitants, of whom 15.2 million are aged 60 and older and 1.9 million are aged 80 and older. By 2025, the Brazilian elderly population is expected to grow to more than 32 million. Brazil has many problems related to its geographic and population size. Great distances between major cities, marked cultural and racial heterogeneity between the various geographic regions, high poverty levels, and decreasing family size all combine to put pressure on the medical and social services that can be made available to the elder population. Less than 500 Brazilian physicians are certified as geriatricians, translating into one geriatrician for every 37,000 elderly Brazilians. Beside 15 geriatric medicine residencies a larger number of fellowship programs exist, and these programs are in high demand, with more than 20 candidates per position, indicating new opportunities for growth in elder care. In addition, geriatric initiatives such as the annual elder vaccination program and the elder statute, recently approved by the Brazilian Congress, indicate that geriatric care in Brazil is entering a new era of growth and development. Although the challenges remain great, there are opportunities for Brazilian geriatrics and gerontology.     

The aging of the aged: challenges for gerontology & geriatrics in the United States.

It comes as no surprise that global graying will be one of the most pressing issues of the coming century. The most rapidly growing age group in all developed countries is the one with persons aged 85 and older. Often referred to as the "oldest old", the aging of the aged reflects a universal concern being experienced in the United States as well as in other industrialized countries, such as Japan. This paper addresses the challenges that such changes present for gerontology and geriatrics. Contextual projections of population trends and of life expectancy, as well as actual health care costs and estimated government health care expenditures will be compared for the United States and for Japan. Among the geriatric challenges being confronted are (1) the need to separate aging from disease, (2) the need for more geriatric centers and available geriatricians to serve the aged, (3) the introduction of health care strategies of prevention and case management, (4) responses to the notion of health care rationing, and (5) the ultimate importance of research ranging from the biological and molecular to the behavioral, social, and health service delivery. Global aging presents a gerontological imperative that may best be understood by examining policy recommendations and future policy decisions.     

The Columbia Cooperative Aging Program: an interdisciplinary and interdepartmental approach to geriatric education for medical interns

Although there is a critical need to prepare physicians to care for the growing population of older adults, many academic medical centers lack the geriatric-trained faculty and dedicated resources needed to support comprehensive residency training programs in geriatrics. Because of this challenge at Columbia University, the Columbia Cooperative Aging Program was developed to foster geriatric training for medical interns. For approximately 60 interns each year completing their month-long geriatric rotations, an integral part of this training now involves conducting comprehensive assessments with "well" older people, supervised by an interdisciplinary team of preceptors from various disciplines, including cardiology, internal medicine, occupational therapy, geriatric nursing, psychiatry, education, public health, social work, and medical anthropology. Interns explore individual behaviors and social supports that promote health in older people; older people's strengths, vulnerabilities, and risk for functional decline; and strategies for maintaining quality of life and independence. In addition, a structured "narrative medicine" writing assignment is used to promote the interns' reflections on the assessment process, the data gathered, and their clinical reasoning throughout. Preliminary measures of the program's effect have shown significant improvements in attitudes toward, and knowledge of, older adults as patients, as well as in interns' self-assessed clinical skills. For academic medical centers, where certified geriatric providers are scarce, this approach may be an effective model for fostering residency geriatric education among interns.     

An Integrated Geriatric Training Experience for Internal Medicine Residents

This paper describes an integrated approach to geriatric medical education programming which utilizes the Geriatric Evaluation Unit (GEU) as a training ground for consultative geriatrics. In addition, it presents pilot data regarding the program's effectiveness in altering attitudinal biases of general internal medicine residents toward elderly patients and their health care needs. Preliminary results suggest that improvement in attitudes occurred following a one month consultative geriatrics rotation. Use of the consultative mode described is felt to allow better utilization of resources in teaching more primary care physicians proper concepts of delivery of care to geriatric patients than the subspecialty mode.     

Factors associated with municipality officers' recognition of relief for elderly life in each municipalities: the community health care white paper survey

To elucidate the present condition about health, medicine and welfare, and to evaluate factors associated with relief for elderly life in each community, a questionnaire survey was conducted among officers of all the municipalities in Japan. We asked officers about their recognition whether older people can live feeling relieved or not, and other factors about health, medicine and welfare condition in each municipality. Demographic data of each municipality were also used as dependent variables. Odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals for the officers' evaluation of relief for life of the elderly were calculated using unconditional logistic models. Of the 3.252 municipalities, 3,059 (94%) responded to the survey. Of the respondents, 2,957 municipalities (91%) answered questions about relief for elderly life. "Receiving satisfactory medical home care service", "cooperative function between medicine, health, and welfare sections", and "receiving complete welfare service" were associated with their recognition about relief for elderly life in both of cities and rural towns. In addition, "the rate of elderly households" and "the easiness to maintain nursing staff" were associated in the cities. This study indicated that more arrangements are needed not only about health and welfare aspects, but also about medical service, especially medical home care service systems to support older peoples' life in the community.     

Significance of internal medicine for geriatrics--independent gerontology

An overview is given of the evolution of gerontology in the German-speaking regions, which really began only after the Second World War. Geriatrics had no support from the official societies of internal medicine, who regarded it only as one of their specialties. Prominent in its future were always not only important developing geriatric cases in some medical university clinics, but the problems of the elderly for the caring heads of medical outpatients' clinics, old peoples' homes and nursing homes. At the same time, medical doctors, psychologists, sociologists and medical staff have been achieving important work in all the social and mental problems of old people.