title: Equipping tomorrow's doctors for the patients of today.
abstract: As the proportion of older patients with frailty presenting to health services increases, so does the need for doctors to be adequately trained to meet their needs. The presentations seen in such patients, the evidence-based models of care and skillsets required to deliver them are different than for younger patient groups-so specific training is required. Several research programmes have used detailed and explicit methods to establish evidence-based expert-validated curricula outlining learning outcomes for undergraduates in geriatric medicine-there is now broad-consensus on what newly qualified doctors need to know. There are, despite this, shortcomings in the teaching of undergraduates about geriatric medicine. National and international surveys from the UK, EU, USA, Canada, Austria and the Netherlands have all shown shortcomings in the content and amount of undergraduate teaching. Mechanisms to improve this situation, aside from specifying curricula, include developing academic departments and professorships in geriatric medicine, providing grants to develop teaching in geriatric medicine and developing novel teaching interventions to make the best of existing resources. Under the last of these headings, innovations have been shown to improve outcomes by: using technology to ensure the most effective allocation of teaching time and resources; using inter-professional education as a means of improving attitudes towards care of older patients; focusing teaching specifically on attitudes towards older patients and those who work with them; and trying to engage patients in teaching. Research areas going forward include how to incentivise medical schools to deliver specified curricula, how to choose from an ever-expanding array of teaching technologies, how to implement interprofessional education in a sustainable way and how to design teaching interventions using a qualitative understanding of attitudes towards older patients and the teams that care for them.
authors: Department of Health Care of Older People, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, UK.
authors: Rachel
authors: R
authors: Oakley
authors: Department of Health Care of Older People, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, UK.
authors: Joanne
authors: J
authors: Pattinson
authors: Division of Rehabilitation and Ageing, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
authors: Sarah
authors: S
authors: Goldberg
authors: Department of Health Care of Older People, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, UK.
authors: Laura
authors: L
authors: Daunt
authors: Faculty of Medicine, School of Public Health, Imperial College, London, UK.
authors: Rajvinder
authors: R
authors: Samra
authors: Department of Health Care of Older People, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, UK Division of Rehabilitation and Ageing, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
authors: Tahir
authors: T
authors: Masud
authors: Division of Rehabilitation and Ageing, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
authors: John R F
authors: JR
authors: Gladman
authors: Department of Health Care of Older People, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, UK Division of Rehabilitation and Ageing, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
authors: Adrian G
authors: AG
authors: Blundell
authors: Department of Health Care of Older People, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, UK Division of Rehabilitation and Ageing, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
authors: Adam L
authors: AL
authors: Gordon
mesh_terms: D003479:Curriculum / Q000639:trends*; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000639:trends*; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005853:Geriatrics / Q000193:education*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology / Q000639:trends*
keywords: computer assisted instruction; curricula; geriatrics; interprofessional relations; older people; undergraduate medical education