Description of Geriatrics Training Grants Approved in April 2001

                                                                        

 

Cornell University, New York, NY - $2,000,000

 

Cornell’s Joan & Sanford Weill Medical College is among the country’s most prestigious academic health centers. It proposes to strengthen the training in geriatrics of its approximately 440 medical students and 129 medical residents, employing problem-based cases and the use of older adults and their caregivers. All medical students will be introduced to a multi-year curriculum in geriatric medicine. All medical residents will be required to take a one-month rotation in geriatric medicine. An enhanced psychosocial curriculum and novel courses in environmental design for frail elders and geriatric psychiatry will be introduced. Special geriatric courses also will be offered to the network of 14,000 practicing physicians in the New York Presbyterian Health System.

 

Related information: www.cornellaging.com

 

Contacts:    Ron Adelman, MD and Mark Lachs, MD

                   Co-Chiefs, Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology

                   Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College

                   Cornell University

                   New York, NY

                   (212) 746-1729

 

Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI - $1,999,990

 

The Medical College of Wisconsin is a private, freestanding medical and graduate school originally associated with Marquette University. The Medical College is launching a three-part initiative in geriatric education in which approximately 800 medical students will receive a comprehensive curriculum in geriatrics, featuring the use of "virtual patients" in CD Rom format and the opportunity to participate in community-based programs focused on geriatric health. A new residency program will be launched combining geriatrics and general internal medicine along with a geriatric fellowship program focused on preparing geriatric clinician educators. The initiative will be led by the Chairman of the Department of Medicine.

Related information: www.mcw.edu/display/router.asp?docid=193

 

Contacts:    G. Richard Olds, MD

                  Chair, Department of Medicine

                  (414) 456-6700

 

                   Edmund H. Duthie, Jr., MD

                   Chief, Division of Geriatrics

                   Department of Medicine

                   (414) 384-2000, ext. 42775

 

                   Medical College of Wisconsin

                   Milwaukee, WI

 

University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI - $2,000,000

 

Though smaller than most mainland institutions, with only 248 medical students, the University of Hawaii’s School of Medicine is highly regarded for its strong geriatrics fellowship and research programs. It now plans to develop and implement a required curriculum in geriatrics for all four years of medical school and to institute geriatrics training in all three years of its medicine and family practice residency programs. In addition, it will develop and implement new geriatrics content for residency programs in obstetrics/gynecology, psychiatry, and general and orthopedic surgery. Also planned is an innovative continuing medical education program in geriatrics for faculty and clinicians in Hawaii. Longer-term, it is likely that Hawaii will establish the country’s fourth department of geriatrics.

 

Related information: www.jabsom.hawaii.edu/JABSOM/departments/intro.php?departmentid=17

 

Contact:     Patricia Lanoie Blanchette, MD, MPH

                  Chair, Department of Geriatric Medicine

                  John A. Burns School of Medicine

                  University of Hawaii

                  Honolulu, HI

                  (808) 523-8461

 

University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA - $2,000,000

 

Iowa has the nation’s highest proportion of citizens over the age of 85. As the state’s only allopathic medical school, the University of Iowa has committed itself to preparing its 663 medical students and 98 internal medicine and family medicine residents to care more effectively for the state’s growing population of frail elderly. The principal focus of the program will be on strengthening the infrastructure for geriatric education in primary care disciplines. The school will draw on its widely acclaimed "virtual hospital" to develop a "geriatric virtual hospital," offering web-based teaching modules on ten common geriatric syndromes and digitized lectures on 40 core geriatric topics. In addition, a one-year "mini-fellowship" program will offer a combination of intensive clinical training and distance learning to help train community-based practitioners in the principles of geriatric management.

 

Contact:     Gary E. Rosenthal, MD

                  Director, Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics

                  University of Iowa College of Medicine

                  Iowa City, IA

                  (319) 356-4241

 

 

 

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI - $1,999,161

The University of Michigan’s goal is that every graduating medical student and every physician who completes residency or fellowship training will have a meaningful educational experience in geriatrics. It will benefit from one of the country’s outstanding geriatric fellowship and research programs in pursuing its goal. In addition to developing and establishing new mandatory clinical experiences, Michigan will require each student and resident to complete a web-based geriatrics portfolio to gain and demonstrate geriatric competence. Faculty will be trained to develop new geriatrics training programs in such medical and surgical specialties as obstetrics/gynecology, emergency medicine and urology. All 671 of Michigan’s medical students and at least 140 of its residents are expected to participate in the project.

Related information: www.med.umich.edu/geriatrics

 

Contact:     Jeffrey B. Halter, MD

                  Chief, Division of Geriatric Medicine and

                  Director, University of Michigan Geriatrics Center

                  University of Michigan Health System

                  Ann Arbor, MI

                  (734) 763-4002

 

University of Nebraska, Omaha, NE - $1,997,188

 

The University of Nebraska’s Medical Center proposes to integrate geriatrics into its programs to train 480 medical students, 263 residents and 420 practicing physicians annually. Particular emphasis will be placed on improving the amount and quality of geriatric education received by internal medicine and family practice residents and on training faculty in geriatrics. An intranet web site will be developed to facilitate this training. An effort also will be made to expand geriatrics training for surgery and anesthesiology residents. The project to train practicing physicians will focus on providing better care at the end of life. The training of residents and of practicing physicians will be decentralized to cover the entire state.

Related information: http://geriatrics.unmc.edu

 

Contact:     Jane F. Potter, MD

                  Chief, Section of Geriatrics and Gerontology

                  Department of Internal Medicine

                  University of Nebraska Medical Center

                  Omaha, NE

                  (402) 559-9600

 

University of Rochester, Rochester, NY - $1,999,346

 

The University of Rochester’s new "double helix" curriculum intertwines basic science and clinical experiences in a highly innovative, problem-based learning approach. One of its goals is to expose all 400 of its medical students to the practice and science of geriatrics in a comprehensive and continuous curriculum. If successful, the new curriculum could serve as a national model. Rochester also will introduce a special aging curricular pathway to interest medical students in pursuing geriatrics in greater depth. Another initiative will train community-based physicians to serve as mentors in geriatrics. Medical residents will be involved in a home-to-hospital program that will allow them to visit an older patient at home after a hospitalization in the hopes of improving the residents’ skills and attitudes about discharging patients. Rochester already is known for its strong geriatrics fellowship and medical residency training programs and for its aging-related research. The project will also strengthen geriatrics in four to five surgical residency programs.

Related information: www.urmc.rochester.edu/medicine/geriatrics

 

Contact:     Robert M. McCann, MD

                  Chair, Department of Medicine

                  Highland Hospital/ University of Rochester

                  Rochester, NY

                  (716) 341-6771

 

University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC - $2,000,000

 

The School of Medicine at the University of South Carolina is a relatively small school, enrolling approximately 300 students, but it plays a central role in training the state’s primary care physicians, as evidenced by the fact that 76% of its graduates practice in South Carolina. The highest priority in the proposed project is to strengthen the faculty’s knowledge of geriatrics, as the first step in improving the geriatrics training of the school’s medical students and residents. Fifteen key faculty members, in gynecology, surgery, emergency medicine, internal medicine, family medicine and psychiatry, will gain protected time to develop geriatrics expertise in their respective areas. They then will be expected to apply that expertise in developing medical student and resident education modules in geriatrics. An effort also will be made to train community-based physicians, particularly in rural areas, using distance education techniques.

 

Related information: http://internalmedicine.med.sc.edu/geri/geriatricsindex.htm
 

Contact:     G. Paul Eleazer, MD

                  Director, Division of Geriatrics

                  Department of Internal Medicine

                  University of South Carolina School of Medicine

                  Columbia, SC

                  (803) 434-4330

 

Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA - $1,839,961

 

Advanced informatics and distance learning techniques will be employed by VCU’s School of Medicine to improve the training of faculty, medical students, residents and community physicians in geriatrics. CD Roms will provide interactive instruction. A web site will offer practical advice on common problems through "Geriatric Quick Consult" plus hundreds of archived seminars. The school’s 688 medical students will have a major increase in hours devoted to geriatric topics using new curricular materials, including a series of interconnected cases. Internal medicine residents will double their required involvement in geriatrics. Training for other specialties, including orthopedics, neurology, psychiatry, emergency medicine, and general surgery, will be enhanced by focusing on acute geriatric care. A new medical education effort in geriatrics will target 500 practicing physicians each year who are also community instructors for the school.

 

Related information: www.virginiageriatrics.org

 

Contact:     Peter A. Boling, MD

                  Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine

                  Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine

                  Richmond, VA

                  (804) 828-5323

 

Yale University, New Haven, CT - $2,000,000

 

Yale’s goal in this project is to integrate into the education of all medical trainees a model of care that reflects the complex nature of the needs of the aging population and is scientifically informed, culturally sensitive and ethically appropriate. The 400 medical students, 250 internal medicine residents and over 300 residents and fellows in the subspecialties will be trained to recognize the multi-factorial nature of illness in the elderly, to elicit patient preferences and goals and to integrate these into an appropriate plan of care. Building from its strong base in aging research and existing resident and fellow training in geriatrics, Yale plans to develop a case-based curriculum with multiple levels of complexity that will integrate these concepts into medical education from the basic sciences to continuing medical education for practicing physicians. A web-based version of the curriculum will be developed for use at Yale and other institutions. The Yale-Reynolds Project also will utilize a train-the-trainer model of faculty development to further assure the integration of these concepts into practice.

Related information: http://info.med.yale.edu/IMAGE

 

Contact:    Margaret Drickamer, MD

                 Associate Professor of Medicine

                 Program in Geriatrics

                 Yale University School of Medicine    
                 New Haven, CT
                 (203) 688-9423