A Competency-Based Medical Student Curriculum Targeting Key Geriatric Syndromes

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the John A. Hartford Foundation published geriatrics competencies for medical students in 2008 defining specific knowledge and skills that medical students should be able to demonstrate before graduation. Medical schools, often with limited geriatrics faculty resources, face challenges in teaching and assessing these competencies. As an initial step to facilitate more-efficient implementation of the competencies, a 1-week geriatrics rotation was developed for the third year using clinical, community, and self-directed learning resources. The Wake Forest University School of Medicine Acute Care for the Elderly Unit serves as home base, and each student selects a half-day outpatient or long-term care experience. Students also perform a home-based falls-risk assessment with a Meals-on-Wheels client. The objectives for the rotation include 20 of the 26 individual AAMC competencies and specific measurable tracking tasks for seven individual competencies. In the evaluation phase, 118 students completed the rotation. Feedback was positive, with an average rating of 7.1 (1 = worst, 10 = best). Students completed a 23-item pre- and post-knowledge test, and average percentage correct improved by 15% (P < .001); this improvement persisted at graduation (2 years after the pretest). On a 12-item survey of attitudes toward older adults, improvement was observed immediately after the rotation that did not persist at graduation. Ninety-seven percent of students documented completion of the competency-based tasks. This article provides details of development, structure, evaluation, and lessons learned that will be useful for other institutions considering a brief, concentrated geriatrics experience in the third year of medical school.

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Teaching Medical Student Geriatrics Competencies in 1 Week: An Efficient Model to Teach and Document Selected Competencies Using Clinical and Community Resources

Atkinson

Lambros

Davis

et al. 2013

“…A plausible explanation is that all the participating medical students in this study had extensive, longitudinal geriatrics experience extending over the 4 years of their training. 26 Students learn about UI not only during ward rounds and didactics, but also through e-learning modules and virtual patients to which all the trainees have access. 26 Nevertheless, residents and fellows come from various medical schools, where they may or may not have had extensive geriatrics training.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Script Concordance Test as a Measure of Clinical Reasoning Skills in Geriatric Urinary Incontinence

Ruiz¹,

Tunuguntla²,

Charlin³

et al. 2010

Self Cite

“…The Division of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine developed a 4‐year longitudinal undergraduate medical curriculum in geriatric medicine, pain management, and palliative care 13 . The partly competency‐based curriculum required students to achieve a defined competency standard in core areas of geriatrics 13 . This extensive curriculum commitment began with healthy community‐dwelling older adults and moved in progressive stages to completely dependent patients.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…13 The partly competency-based curriculum required students to achieve a defined competency standard in core areas of geriatrics. 13 This extensive curriculum commitment began with healthy community-dwelling older adults and moved in progressive stages to completely dependent patients. In the first 2 years, geriatric education required approximately 40 hours of learner commitment.…”

Section: Clerkship Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Fourth‐Year Medical School Clerkship That Addressed Negative Attitudes Toward Geriatric Medicine

Golden

Zuilen²,

Mintzer

et al. 2010

Self Cite

Despite extensive educational efforts, many medical students still have negative attitudes toward the field of geriatric medicine and the care of older adult patients. This article describes a fourth-year geriatric clerkship that addressed this issue by providing opportunities for students to actively discuss many of the negative stereotypes that exist regarding geriatric medicine. Emphasis was also placed on personalizing the course content to show the relevance of geriatric medicine to all medical students. During the 2008/09 academic year, 150 students completed the rotation. Although no students expressed an interest in pursuing a career as a geriatrician, they expressed a highly favorable evaluation of this personalized geriatric clerkship and voted this clerkship ''the most outstanding clinical course'' at the medical school. J Am Geriatr Soc 58:746-750, 2010.