College faculty involved in development of national competencies for geriatric education
The Medical College of Wisconsin has an emerging national reputation for excellence in geriatrics education. Over the next several months, a series of articles will be published that highlight specific geriatric education initiatives aimed at preparing graduates to provide outstanding care to older adults. This second story highlights new national competencies in geriatric education and the College’s involvement in developing them.
Aug. 7, 2008 College News - Three Medical College faculty members participated in an Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)-led conference aimed at developing national competencies for geriatric education. The goal of the conference was to identify and define the minimum geriatrics-specific competencies that U.S. medical school graduates need to adequately care for older adults on their first day of internship.
Competency-based education prepares students to perform tasks that occur within the context of practice, such as drawing blood, taking a patient history, and assessing for dementia/delirium and/or falls risk. Previously, there were no succinct national standards for geriatrics-specific medical student competencies.
The conference, titled Geriatrics Consensus Conference – Developing Competencies for Geriatric Medical Education, included sessions on the following geriatrics-specific competency areas:
• Medical Management
• Cognitive and Behavioral Disorders
• Self-care Capacity
• Falls, Balance, Gait Disorders
• Health Care Promotion
• Atypical Presentation of Disease
• Palliative Care
• Hospital Care for Elders
Edmund Duthie, MD, Professor of Medicine and Chief of Geriatrics and Gerontology, and Deborah Simpson, PhD, Professor of Family and Community Medicine and Associate Dean for Educational Support and Evaluation, co-led two of the groups at the conference, and Kathryn M. Denson, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Geriatrics and Gerontology), was a member of two other groups. Dr. Simpson is also part of the writing group that is disseminating these findings through multiple forums including an upcoming article in Academic Medicine.
As a result of this conference, these minimum competencies are now included in the AAMC graduation questionnaire administered to all graduating medical students.
Since the conference, clerkship directors in Family and Community Medicine, Medicine, Neurology, Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, and Resuscitation and Perioperative Medicine have begun refocusing their geriatrics content to align with these minimum competencies. This effort is partially supported by Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) funding as part of MCW’s collaboration with the Wisconsin Geriatric Education Center.