Geriatric Training Curriculum For Public Health Professionals

This background paper, prepared by two members of the Institute of Medicine's Committee on Strengthening the Geriatric Content of Medical Education, addresses the progress made in physicians' geriatric and gerontological education. The report appears in six chapters. After a brief introduction on health care reform and medical education, geriatric medicine and geriatricians are discussed in chapter 2. Some of the topics examined here include the historical development of geriatrics, physician certification, and the utilization and financing of health services. Chapter 3 analyzes past efforts to develop geriatrics and explores increases in geriatric faculty, geriatric fellowship programs and residencies, continuing medical education, and obstacles to the development of academic geriatrics. Chapter 4 assesses the demand for geriatricians and faculty, while in chapter 5, some strategies to strengthen physicians' geriatrics training are presented. Some of these strategies include revised financial policies, the revamping of service delivery, the strengthening of faculty development and academic programs, and recruiting and marketing ideas. The last chapter comments briefly on the 1993 Institute of Medicine Report. The recommendations made in the above report were grouped into five categories: (1) improved education in geriatrics; (2) leadership centers; (3) enhanced attractiveness of geriatrics; (4) revision in payment policies; and (5) research support. (RJM)

This book highlights both recent innovations in professional health curricula and continuing education and interventions aimed at improving student attitudes towards geriatrics and aging. The contributors cover areas including simulation, online training, and standardized patients for evaluation, but also emphasize the important end-result of clinical training: to take care of real older adults outside the classroom. Importantly, this underscores the development of powerful learning experiences of students by sensitizing them to the frameworks of palliative care, cancer care, sexuality, and aging research, all of which serves as a powerful catalyst for creating a ‘pipeline’ of students who embrace aging as a central theme of their future work. As increased training in geriatrics is required to attune the health care workforce to the needs of older adults, this book will be of interest to those seeking to create a more age-friendly healthcare curriculum. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Gerontology & Geriatrics Education journal.

Geriatric is a topic of great interest in medicine and among the general public. Population aging is an inevitable and irreversible demographic reality that is associated with welcome improvements in health care. The increase in life expectancy has led the very old to become the fastest-growing segment. The geriatric population experiences significant alterations of numerous organ systems as a result of the aging process. Normally, functional reserve and organ functions are declined in geriatric patients. The care of geriatric patients can be complex and will be a growing task. A balance between physiological and psychological alterations is required in these patients. Geriatric patients also have several co-morbidities including hypertension, cardiac disease, diabetes, cerebrovascular disease, and renal dysfunction.

The authors discuss their experience as participants in the groundbreaking Hartford Foundation initiative to create geriatric interdisciplinary team training (GITT) programs in 8 model sites nationwide. They suggest various solutions to the problems one is most likely to encounter while designing and implementing GITT programs.