The goals of the educational program for our fellows are:
Knowledge Base
- To provide current scientific knowledge of aging and longevity including theories of aging, physiologic versus pathologic changes of aging, epidemiology of aging and natural history of aging, and diseases of the aged;
- To review aspects of preventive medicine including nutrition, exercise, screening, immunizations, and awareness of community resources;
- To present syndromes of special interest to geriatric medicine including but not limited to cognitive impairment, falls, incontinence, osteoporosis, pressure ulcers, sensory impairment, polypharmacy, oral health and nutrition;
- To present pharmacological alterations associated with aging including pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, drug interactions, over medication, and issues regarding compliance in treating patients;
- To review psychosocial aspects of aging including housing, depression, bereavement, and anxiety;
- To review economic aspects of supportive services including Title II of the Older Americans Act, Medicare, Medicaid, and cost containment in working with patient and family;
- To review ethical and legal issues especially pertinent to geriatric medicine including competency, guardianship, right to refuse treatment, and advance directives;
- To review research methodologies related to geriatric medicine including biostatistics, clinical epidemiology, medical information, information sciences, decision analysis, critical literature review, and research design for cross-sectional and longitudinal methods;
- To review economic aspects of a geriatric practice, including practical experience with billing issues.
Psychomotor skills
- To be able to use appropriate audiovisual aids to develop and present didactic instruction on general medical, clinical care of the elderly and common medical syndromes to groups of colleagues, students, or other health professionals;
- To be able to design and present patient education programs on general medical care in clinical settings such as the nursing home, outpatient clinic or in-patient setting.
Practical Experience
- To present a lecture on theories of physiology and biology of aging and tissue and organ systems at the VAMC or UHCMC to faculty and/or residents/students;
- To present lectures or lead discussions at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, an outside hospital, or in the community on geriatric issues;
- To present current knowledge of aging including theories of aging, physiologic versus pathologic changes of aging, epidemiology of aging and natural history of aging, and diseases of the aged at conferences, lectures, and rounds;
- To lead case-based conferences on geriatric syndromes.