A rapid demographic transition to aging populations is imminent over the next decade, especially in Southeast Asian countries. An aging population presents a host of medical challenges, such as multimorbidity; chronic illnesses; and geriatric syndromes, such as frailty, falls, dementia, and incontinence. In order to tackle such issues efficiently,…

Medical schools must consider innovative ways to ensure that graduates are prepared to care for the aging population. One way is to offer a geriatrics clerkship as an option for the fulfillment of a medical school's internal medicine rotation requirement. The authors' purpose was to evaluate the geriatrics clerkship's impact on internal medicine…

Medical school accreditation requirements require educational opportunities in geriatrics. Twenty-six minimum graduating competencies in geriatrics have recently been identified for medical students. The authors describe how these competencies are being integrated into a new medical curriculum through coursework and community-based experiences.…

This study tested the reliability and validity of the Carolina Opinions on Care of Older Adults (COCOA) survey compared with the Geriatric Assessment Survey (GAS). Participants were first year medical students (n = 160). A Linear Structural Relations (LISREL) measurement model for COCOA had a moderately strong fit that was significantly better…

Purpose: To evaluate whether medical student participation in TimeSlips (TS), a creative group-based storytelling program, with persons affected by dementia would improve student attitudes toward this patient population. Design and Methods: Fifteen fourth-year medical students from Penn State College of Medicine participated in a month-long…

Purpose of the study: The Alpert Medical School of Brown University began to integrate geriatrics content into all preclerkship courses and key clerkship cases as part of a major medical school curriculum redesign in 2006. This study evaluates students' responses to geriatrics integration within the curriculum using journals kept by volunteer…

Medical Readers' Theater (MRT) is an innovative and simple way of helping medical students to reflect on difficult-to-discuss topics in geriatrics medical education, such as aging stereotypes, disability and loss of independence, sexuality, assisted living, relationships with adult children, and end-of-life issues. The authors describe a required…

This paper describes an Elder Specialist Program developed by one school of medicine to sensitize medical students to geriatric psychosocial issues. Elder Specialists participate in panel discussions as part of each geriatric session. As an alternative to traditional senior mentoring programs, the Elder Specialist Program provides all students a…

Aging Couple Across the Curriculum is a unique program designed around a couple who "age" a decade with each year of medical school. In these half-day sessions, students encounter the aging couple through a standardized patient experience. Interactive breakout sessions conducted by multidisciplinary professionals enhance student learning and…

This study examined first-year medical student attitudes concerning the elderly before and after instituting a geriatric mentoring program. The program began and ended with a survey designed to assess students' attitudes toward the elderly. During the mentoring program, students visited the same senior for four visits throughout the academic year.…

The research reported in this article examined attitudes toward the care of the elderly between and among medical students and residents in training. Data were collected with a 16-item attitude questionnaire. Participants were medical students in their introduction period (prior to clinical experience) and residents of the Department of Internal…

This paper compares two models of undergraduate geriatric medical education utilizing senior mentoring programs. Descriptive, comparative multiple-case study was employed analyzing program documents, archival records, and focus group data. Themes were compared for similarities and differences between the two program models. Findings indicate that…

Introduction: This study uses a cross-sectional approach in terms of evaluating attitudes toward the elderly among health sciences students. The aim of this study was to measure attitudes among final year pregraduate students of seven health care careers. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted with final year students of medicine (M),…

Over the last 20 years, older people have served as teachers for students as part of the formal curriculum in geriatrics at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. In recent years, we have supported a more in-depth, longitudinal experience that connects medical students with elders in the community. The program was initiated as a special…

Administered Palmore's Facts on Aging Quizzes I and II and Facts on Aging Mental Health Quiz as single test to third-year medical students before and after their six-week Community Health and Family Medicine clerkship. Clerkship contributed to small improvement in students' knowledge about aged; net bias scores decreased from pretest to posttest.…