Teaching geriatric assessment: use of a hybrid method in a family medicine clerkship

We addressed a lack of geriatric content in our third-year family medicine clerkship. Adding this content posed a challenge in that students are dispersed to clinical sites across New England. Our goal was to promote student skill in functional assessment of elderly patients.

We used multiple formats: a workshop, a small-group case discussion, an online video, and an online discussion of a new geriatric case. Students were directed to use five assessment tools on actual patients in the office and on a home visit.

A total of 155 students participated in the new curriculum. Students completed a required home visit on an older patient and evaluated geriatric patients in an office setting. They performed the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE), Activities of Daily Living Scale (ADL), Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale (IADL), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), and Get-Up-and-Go tests in patients in both settings. There was significant improvement from before to after the clerkship in identification of the appropriate geriatric assessment tool to use (MMSE 86% to 96%; ADL/IADL 32% to 94%; GDS 71% to 94%, and Get-Up-and-Go 4% to 58%). Students evaluated the curriculum positively.

We were able to successfully increase the correct selection of and document high rates of use of geriatric functional assessment tools in our third-year family medicine clerkship using a mixture of teaching methods.