The current status of family medicine geriatric fellowships

A questionnaire was sent to directors of all family medicine-affiliated geriatric fellowship programs to characterize trends and changes since institution of ACGME accreditation of fellowships. The number of fellowships has more than doubled since 1986, but few fellows graduate from these programs. There is currently a surplus of fellowship positions; over half of all programs did not recruit a first-year fellow for the 1989 academic year. In 1986, most family medicine-affiliated programs had independent administration. Almost half of the programs are now jointly sponsored with an internal medicine department. These programs are over six times more likely to train internists than family physicians. Although there has been a growth in geriatric training programs over the past three years, the number of family physicians seeking such training remains negligible.