Meeting the Need for Training in Geriatrics: The Geriatrics Education for Specialty Residents Program

The imperative created by increasing numbers of aging Americans coupled with increasing longevity has generated recognition and acceptance within american medicine that education, from medical school through postgraduate training through continuing medical education, must include appropriate knowledge and skills in aging and geriatrics to provide for effective care of older adults. Such education and training is necessary not only for traditional primary care providers, but also for specialty physicians, including those in most surgical specialties and in related fields such as anesthesiology, emergency medicine and physical medicine and rehabilitation. To fill this demand, the American Geriatrics Society Geriatrics for Specialist Initiative established the Geriatrics Education for Specialty Residents Program (GSR). This article reviews the process by which the GSR created a dynamic cohort of geriatric surgical educators and researchers who in turn created a vibrant body of educational tools and scientific works that continue to advance the cause of improving medical care of older adults.