Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 19, 2026
08:47
Oral Health Assessment by Lay Personnel for Older Adults
Published on: February 2, 2020
Why do doctors choose a career in geriatric medicine?
Sally Briggs1, Recia Atkins, Jeremy Playfer
1Department of Medicine for Older People, Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, Poplar Grove, Stockport. sally.briggs@fsmail.net
Clinical Medicine (London, England)
|November 4, 2006
Summary
Recruitment to geriatric medicine is influenced by clinical factors and senior mentors. However, career choices in geriatric medicine are often made later in medical training, suggesting foundation program changes may not boost recruitment.
Area of Science:
- Geriatric Medicine
- Medical Education
- Career Development
Background:
- Postgraduate training reforms in the UK may impact geriatric medicine recruitment.
- Understanding factors influencing career choices is crucial for specialty recruitment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify factors attracting doctors to geriatric medicine.
- To assess if these factors can be leveraged to improve recruitment.
- To examine career satisfaction and decision regret within the specialty.
Main Methods:
- A questionnaire survey was conducted in 2005.
- 1036 responses were analyzed (56.4% response rate).
- Data included career choice timing, influencing factors, and career regret.
Main Results:
- Clinical aspects (34.1%) and inspirational seniors (26.2%) were key influences.
- Many doctors chose geriatric medicine later in their careers (e.g., 39% of consultants).
- A small percentage regretted their choice (9.2% consultants, 10.1% registrars), rarely due to core specialty aspects.
Conclusions:
- Geriatric medicine attracts doctors at a more mature stage of training.
- Foundation program expansion may not be the most effective recruitment strategy.
- Career satisfaction is generally high, with regret not linked to core geriatric medicine practice.
Related Concept Videos
01:15Drug Dosing: Geriatric Patients
Elderly individuals encompass a diverse population with varying degrees of age-related physiological changes. Defining the elderly presents challenges, as the geriatric population is often arbitrarily categorized as individuals older than 65. However, many individuals in this group lead active and healthy lives, with an increasing number surpassing 85 years and falling into the older elderly category. Physiological changes associated with aging impact performance capacity and homeostatic...
01:18Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Excretion
In geriatric patients, renal physiology undergoes significant changes, including diminished renal blood flow and a lower glomerular filtration rate (GFR), leading to alterations in medication clearance. Drugs such as aminoglycoside antibiotics, lithium, and digoxin, which rely on glomerular filtration for removal from the body, particularly impact pharmacokinetics. These drugs tend to have slower clearance rates in older adults, necessitating careful dosage considerations.Evaluation of renal...
01:27Pharmacodynamics in Geriatric Patients: Effects of Age
Age-related pharmacokinetic changes are extensively documented, but understanding age-related pharmacodynamic alterations is relatively limited. This knowledge gap can be partly attributed to the complexity of developing appropriate measures of drug responses compared to bioanalytical methods for determining drug concentrations.Most information regarding age-related differences in human pharmacodynamics originates from cross-sectional studies. However, these studies assume that observed mean...
01:22Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Absorption
As individuals age, their body's physiology evolves, affecting drug pharmacokinetics. The most apparent changes occur in the gastrointestinal tract, where an increase in gastric pH, a delay in gastric emptying, and a reduction in gastrointestinal motility are observed. Remarkably, these changes do not substantially modify the absorption of orally administered drugs, particularly those absorbed via passive diffusion.Transdermal drug delivery emerges as a highly viable method for older adults due...
01:18Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Metabolism
Geriatric patients show significant variation in how their bodies process medications, which can change how effective and safe treatments are. The liver is the primary organ where drug metabolism occurs, involving two main types of chemical reactions: phase I and II. Phase I metabolism is driven by the cytochrome P450 enzyme system, which includes key types such as CYP3A, CYP2D6, and CYP2C9. Research indicates that while aging doesn't notably alter the levels or activity of these enzymes, it...
01:00Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Distribution
Drug distribution in the human body is influenced by several factors, including plasma protein concentration, body composition, blood flow, tissue-protein concentration, and tissue fluid pH. Among these, changes in plasma protein concentration and body composition due to aging significantly affect how drugs are distributed within the body. Specifically, aging is associated with a decrease in albumin levels by about 10% and an increase in α1-acid glycoprotein levels. These alterations are not...