New Medical Students Learning to Care for Aging Patients

The Boston Globe has an article today about medical schools focusing on the care of the elderly.   Some of the course work includes a focus on hip fractures, drug costs, and discussing end of life issues with their patients. 

The new emphasis on aging is part of a wave of change sweepingmedical schools nationwide as they focus - many for the first time - onpreparing all newly minted doctors to treat the growing population ofolder Americans. Although students have traditionally trained inhospitals filled with older patients, many graduated with littleknowledge of how elderly patients' bodies and minds differ from youngerones.

Now, medical schools are increasingly teaching students insettings that include senior centers and nursing homes. They areincorporating lessons on aging in basic coursework. And many aretesting students on their skill in treating older patients before theyare allowed to graduate.

"This work is crucial to the well-beingof older people and the well-being of healthcare in the United States,"said Dr. Richard Besdine, director of the Center for Gerontology andHealth Care Research, who is leading a curriculum overhaul at Brown."Every physician in the United States needs to be educated about careof older people unless they're going to do lifetime pediatrics."

It will be interesting to see if the new emphasis on caring for the aged will lead to a resurgence of doctors who make home visits (and not just to the nursing home or assisted living facility.)  As more people choose to age in place, with supports from family, paid care-givers and companions, the need for doctors who make home visits will increase.  Just as you can't have an elder law practice without making home visits to those clients who need them, a doctor  will have a hard time calling herself a geriatrition if she isn't willing to do the same thing for her patients.