Community physicians should be knowledgeable of basic geriatrics to cope with the challenges posed by the growing number of older patients and their complex needs. A survey of knowledge in basic health care for elderly persons, carried out by our team in 1996, revealed that it was insufficient. The authors repeated this survey in 2006, by using…

Few gerontology and geriatrics professionals receive training in driver fitness evaluation, state reporting of unfit drivers, or transportation mobility planning yet are often asked to address these concerns in the provision of care to older adults. The American Medical Association (AMA) developed an evidence-based, multi-media Curriculum to…

We developed driving restrictions that are linked to specific driving errors, allowing cognitively impaired individuals to continue to independently meet mobility needs while minimizing risk to themselves and others. The purpose of this project was to evaluate the efficacy and duration expectancy of these restrictions in promoting safe continued…

Virginia Commonwealth University developed an enhanced medical student geriattic curriculum that includes required home visits and nursing home visits for second year students (180 per year), an annual Forum on Aging for all first and second year students, and small group exercises. We added 30 hours of basic science material to pre-clinical…

We redesigned our medical school's Problem-Based Learning (PBL) curriculum to include a substantial increase in required geriatrics content. Innovations included new PBL health care problems and standardized patients (SPs) throughout the first three years and a new required four-week, fourth-year rotation. We used data from the AAMC Medical School…

This study reports on the evaluation of a skills-enhancement training series for direct service providers in home care that was part of a federally funded state-level initiative to improve employee recruitment and retention. The gerontological training curriculum included content to improve problem-solving, communication, and stress management…

Directors of California State University (CSU) gerontology, geriatrics, and aging studies (GGA) academic programs were surveyed regarding CSU capacity to fulfill demographic and legislative mandates to prepare professional personnel for work with the state's aging population. Program directors affirmed the importance of providing GGA education and…

To inform the development of educational programming designed to teach providers appropriate methods of exercise prescription for older adults, the authors conducted a survey of 177 physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners (39% response rate). The survey was designed to better understand the prevalence of exercise prescriptions,…

The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) Senior Mentor Program (SMP) has been offered to a small group of first and second year medical students as a course alternative to the traditional physician mentor program. The program links students with healthy older adult mentors and includes mentor/student visits, didactic sessions, written assignments,…

Exposure to gerontological content has been shown to positively influence student attitudes toward elders. Our School of Nursing recently phased out one curriculum while implementing a new integrated curriculum. In the former, aging content was presented in a first-semester senior course. In the new curriculum, students were introduced to aging…

Gerontology, geriatrics, and aging studies (GGA) academic programs are charged to produce competent graduates to work in the field of aging. The Association for Gerontology in Higher Education recommends core courses that are required in GGA academic programs throughout the United States. This article reports findings on the role of the core…