title: Undergraduate geriatric education through community service learning.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite the exponential growth of the elderly population worldwide, geriatric education has been a formal component of only a few dental schools' curricula.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe the geriatric community service learning (CSL) component of the professionalism and community service (PACS) module, and to explore a CSL project carried out by a group of first year dental students at a long-term care facility.
  
  
  METHODS
  A literature review was performed to present and describe the CSL component of the PACS module. Students' personal reflections were used to illustrate some of the joys and challenges of experiencing a long-term care facility environment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The newly developed PACS module combines community service learning with the long-term care experience. Students develop, apply and evaluate an educational health promotion activity in a long-term care facility.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The PACS module has encouraged students to acquire comprehensive knowledge and awareness of the needs and dynamics of a long-term care as they collaboratively interacted with personnel from the facility to develop their projects. The authors would like to engage other schools in discussing the need to integrate community-based geriatric education into their dental curricula.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Community Dentistry and Prosthodontics and Dental Geriatrics, Faculty of Dentistry, Oral Health Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. brondani@interchange.ubc.ca
authors.forename: Mario A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Brondani
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gooch
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Arash
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maskan
authors.forename: Brett
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Steed
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001955:British Columbia; D003149:Community Dentistry / Q000193:education*; D003479:Curriculum; D004497:Education, Dental; D005850:Geriatric Dentistry / Q000193:education*; D006267:Health Education, Dental; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D020380:Needs Assessment; D009910:Oral Hygiene / Q000193:education; D010934:Planning Techniques; D011231:Preceptorship; D011340:Problem Solving; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation