Our study assesses changes in students' knowledge and attitudes after participation in an interprofessional, team-based, geriatric home training program. Second-year medical, physician assistant, occupational therapy, social work, and physical therapy students; third-year pharmacy students; and fourth-year dental students were led by interprofessional faculty teams. Student participants were assessed before and after the curriculum using an interprofessional attitudes learning scale. Significant differences and positive data trends were noted at year-end. Our study suggests that early implementation, assessment, and standardization of years of student training is needed for optimal interprofessional geriatric learning. Additionally, alternative student assessment tools should be considered for future studies.

Study Design: Randomized multicenter retrospective chart review of medical referral diagnoses and corresponding referral, patient, and physician demographic data. Objective: To examine the information content of medical referral diagnoses provided to outpatient physical therapists with respect to physician and patient characteristics. Background: Previous studies indicate that physicians commonly provide nonspecific referral diagnoses to physical therapists. The effects of patient and physician characteristics on information contained in referral diagnoses are not well elucidated. Methods and Measures: A team of blinded raters categorized the information content of referral diagnoses (n = 2183) using a classification system adapted from a previous study. Results: One third (32%) of analyzed diagnoses were anatomically oriented and reported specific pathology. These specific diagnoses were provided significantly more commonly by specialist physicians (odds ratio [OR], 3.4; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.7-4.2; PϽ.001), male physicians (OR, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.6-3.1; PϽ.001), both early-and late-career physicians (PϽ.001), and for male patients (OR, 1.3; 95% CI, 1.1-1.6; PϽ.05). Conclusion: Nonspecific referral diagnoses are frequently provided to physical therapists by physicians. The practice of evidence-based physical therapy seems challenged by the high rate of nonspecific referral diagnoses. Physical therapists may also have the responsibility to conduct differential diagnosis of pathology more commonly than formally recognized by many state practice acts and third-party payers. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2005;35:572-579.

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This study describes and provides qualitative analysis of an innovative, inter-professional (IP) geriatrics curriculum focused on team-based care with healthy older adults in a home-based community setting. The curriculum consisted of five, four-hour didactic and experiential sessions over one academic year. Dental, medical, occupational therapy, pharmacy, physical therapy, and physician assistant students were placed into teams led by IP faculty from each health professional school. Teams met with a community-dwelling older adult three times. At the program’s conclusion, students responded to the reflective question “What is the most important learning experience you expect to take away from the geriatric inter-professional training? A qualitative analysis of student responses revealed four common themes from all five professions aligning with curricular goals: (1) health professional roles/scope of practice, (2) geriatric care and health outcomes, (3) team communication/collaboration, and (4) advocating for one’s own profession. As sites for institutional clinical training become scarcer for health professions’ trainees, this study offers both a novel, IP, geriatrics curriculum with didactic/experiential learning through community partnerships in a home-based setting and a reflective evaluation.

The challenges facing the health sciences education fields are more evident than ever. Professional health sciences educators have more demands on their time, more knowledge to manage, and ever-dwindling sources of financial support. Change is often necessary to either keep programs viable or meet the changing needs of health education. This article outlines a simple but powerful three-step tool to help educators become successful agents of change. Through the application of principles well known and widely used in business management, readers will understand the concepts behind stakeholder analysis and coalition building. These concepts are part of a powerful tool kit that educators need in order to become effective agents of change in the health sciences environment. Using the example of curriculum change at a school of veterinary medicine, we will outline the three steps involved, from stakeholder identification and analysis to building and managing coalitions for change.