Impact of geriatrics elective courses at three colleges of pharmacy: Attitudes toward aging and eldercare.

Introduction: One in five Americans will be 65 years and older by 2030. Training student pharmacists to provide quality eldercare as healthcare professionals is essential. The objective of the study was to assess pharmacy students' attitudes toward aging and eldercare before and after a geriatrics-focused elective course.

Healthy aging rounds: using healthy-aging mentors to teach medical students about physical activity and social support assessment, interviewing, and prescription.

Medical students underestimate the health and functional status of community-dwelling older adults and have little experience in health promotion interviewing or prescribing physical activity. The goal was to provide third-year University of Arizona medical students with an opportunity to gain a broader and evidence-based understanding of healthy aging, with specific focus on physical activity and social engagement. Students engaged in one-on-one conversations with healthy older adult mentors and practiced assessment, interviewing and prescription counseling for physical activity and social support.

Hiking on the geriatrics rotation.

Objectives: Most geriatrics training emphasizes chronically ill, dying, demented, or institutionalized patients. While some programs link trainees to healthy older adults in interview settings, we developed an experience that exposes trainees to vigorously active seniors with the objective of demonstrating the physical capabilities of older adults.

Methods: We sent residents with a senior group (age 60s--80s) from a hiking club on a moderately difficult (1,700-foot climb) hike.

Patients as teachers, medical students as filmmakers: the video slam, a pilot study.

In 2006-2007 and 2007-2008, the authors pilot-tested a filmmaking project, (medical students filmed patients) to assess the project's potential to teach about the challenges of living with serious chronic illness. Two years of second-year medical students (N = 32) from The University of Arizona, working in groups of two or three, were paired with patients and filmed multiple home visits during eight months. Students edited their films to 7 to 10 minutes and added transitions, titles, and music.

ACGME Outcomes Project: selling our expertise.

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Outcomes Project emphasizes competency outcome assessment by residency programs. Many residency programs are unprepared to undertake valid competency assessments. Family medicine educators, however, often have substantial experience in competency-based evaluation.