Revisiting the one-year geriatric fellowship option: a preliminary assessment.
OBJECTIVE
To ascertain early opinions of geriatric fellowship program directors regarding the 1-year clinical training option.


METHODS
A brief mail survey of the 100 program directors listed in Graduate Medical Education, 1998-1999.


METHODS
Answers (favorable (+), no effect (0), or negative (-)) to questions regarding the effect on the training program, position of the director, and geriatrics as a discipline.


RESULTS
This preliminary assessment produced decidedly mixed results. Seventy-six program directors responded (76% response rate). The clearest positive effect on the program itself was on the quantity of applicants (63% +, 4% -) but less so on their quality (33% +, 15% -). The clearest negative impact was on research aspects of the fellowship (0% +, 67%-). Other effects on the program were either null (clinical aspects and faculty morale) or moderately negative (educational, administrative, and financial aspects and the position of the program director), with few effects on the geriatrics division as a whole. Overall, the 1-year option was felt to have adversely affected geriatrics as a respected professional field (11% +, 41% -). Nevertheless, the majority (61%) answered that introduction of the 1-year option was wise. Although not attributed to this training pathway, program directors overwhelmingly perceived (75 % +) that geriatrics has enjoyed enhanced strength and attractiveness as a discipline since introduction of the 1-year option in 1992.


CONCLUSIONS
The 1-year geriatric fellowship option has, at best, proved a mixed blessing to program directors. However, optimism regarding the future would seem to justify continuing to offer this option because of several observations and trends: (1) the increase in quantity and also perhaps quality of applicants; (2) growth in numbers of fellows and higher percentage program fill rates; (3) success of both 1- and two-year fellows in passing the Certificate of Added Qualifications examination and consequent increased generation of certified fellowship-trained geriatricians; (4) strong sentiment that geriatrics is gaining strength and attractiveness; and (5) that introduction of the 1-year option was wise.
Hazzard
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J. Paul Sticht Center on Aging, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.
Currin
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Woolard
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D001290:Attitude; D003625:Data Collection; D005257:Fellowships and Scholarships; D005853:Geriatrics / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D015397:Program Evaluation; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States