Teaching geriatric assessment: use of a hybrid method in a family medicine clerkship.
OBJECTIVE
We addressed a lack of geriatric content in our third-year family medicine clerkship. Adding this content posed a challenge in that students are dispersed to clinical sites across New England. Our goal was to promote student skill in functional assessment of elderly patients.


METHODS
We used multiple formats: a workshop, a small-group case discussion, an online video, and an online discussion of a new geriatric case. Students were directed to use five assessment tools on actual patients in the office and on a home visit.


RESULTS
A total of 155 students participated in the new curriculum. Students completed a required home visit on an older patient and evaluated geriatric patients in an office setting. They performed the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE), Activities of Daily Living Scale (ADL), Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale (IADL), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), and Get-Up-and-Go tests in patients in both settings. There was significant improvement from before to after the clerkship in identification of the appropriate geriatric assessment tool to use (MMSE 86% to 96%; ADL/IADL 32% to 94%; GDS 71% to 94%, and Get-Up-and-Go 4% to 58%). Students evaluated the curriculum positively.


CONCLUSIONS
We were able to successfully increase the correct selection of and document high rates of use of geriatric functional assessment tools in our third-year family medicine clerkship using a mixture of teaching methods.
Goldman
Laura N
LN
Department of Family Medicine, Boston University Medical School, Boston, MA 02111, USA. Laura.Goldman@bmc.org
Wiecha
John
J
Hoffman
Miriam
M
Levine
Sharon A
SA
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002982:Clinical Clerkship; D003479:Curriculum; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate; D005194:Family Practice; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D005853:Geriatrics / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000193:education*; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D013663:Teaching