In response to concerns about continuity of care, nurse practitioners and faculty members from medicine, pharmacy, and nursing developed an interdisciplinary curriculum for clinical experience in a nursing home, an educational and medical experience significantly different from those in hospital or ambulatory settings. (MSE)

Describes the development and implementation of a new standardized patient program in a required geriatrics clinical clerkship for fourth-year medical students. A student survey was also conducted. The standardized patient program provided students with direct feedback on their clinical skills--76% of the students favored the program. (RJM)

In this article we will focus on geriatric medical education in Israel and will review our experience in this field. A coordinated effort of the Ministry of Health and the Israeli Medical Association led to the establishment of a modern geriatric system and to the recognition of geriatrics as a medical specialty in the early 1980s. All four…

Proceedings from a meeting about teaching gerontology and geriatric medicine in the European region of the World Health Organization are summarized. Issues and topics discussed include implications for education and training related to gerontology and geriatric medicine, courses, geriatric medicine as a specialty, the patient, teaching objectives,…

Based on the researcher's observations during a month-long visit to the Soviet Union as a specialist in gerontology and guest of the Soviet Ministry of Health, comparisons were drawn between educational intervention procedures in gerontology and/or geriatrics for health care professionals in the Soviet Union and the United States. Locus of such…

Despite evidence of increased interest among medical students in entering family practice, concern for the needs of the chronically ill and aged still seems to be largely absent in medical schools and students have negative attitudes toward them. Restructuring of medical education is necessary to promote more concern. (LBH)

Describes the experiences of an educational program in long-term care administration that has used nursing homes as an integral part of the training of new administrators for 18 years. Discusses choosing field work facilities, supervising students in the field, and assessing expectations for student performance in the field setting. (Author/ABB)

A case-based, problem-oriented, modular curriculum in geriatrics for medical students was evaluated to investigate whether: students would demonstrate cognitive knowledge gain, students' attitudes toward the elderly would change favorably, suggested activities would influence students' ratings, and which institutional characteristics facilitate…

Ohio's initiative in geriatric education shows that the federal government need not be the initiator in charting new directions. Diversity of medical education and practice can be an asset. The Ohio model provides a replicable means of transition and holds great promise for other states. (Author)

The 1975 to 1985 graduates of the University of Iowa College of Dentistry were surveyed to evaluate the influence on dental practice of a comprehensive geriatric dental curriculum introduced in 1980. Those who graduated before 1980 were more likely to be consultants in nursing homes than carrying out comprehensive care for this population.…

Family physicians may lack discriminatory ability to differentiate normal aging form disease states. To assess such ability, 53 aging-related indicators or symptoms were presented to 65 physicians in 3 family practice residency programs. Respondents classified each symptom as normal aging or disease. On average, residents classified 73.4% of…

The process of students' evaluation in medical schools has changed from a tutor-led evaluation system based on students' performance to a student-based evaluation that involves self-reflection and their level of change in skills and attitudes. At the McGill University Division of Geriatric Medicine, we developed an innovative system of evaluation…

After spending seven weeks in a nursing home, nursing students came away from the experience with a new respect for the aged, a realistic idea of the problems facing the nursing staff in the extended care facility, and new image of nursing homes. (Author)

The need for the incorporation of training in geriatrics and gerontology into basic medical and dental education has recently been recognized. Existing studies which attempt to measure the attitudes of medical and dental students toward the aged are extremely limited. As part of a larger study of attitudes and knowledge among 500 health workers,…

Suggests using the paradigm of qualitative research, consistent with the bio-psycho-social perspective, rather than the "rule out" decision-tree method of diagnosis for training in geriatrics. Argues that this paradigm would provide clinicians with the broadest picture of the presented problem. (Author/ABB)