Interprofessional, older adult, team-based home visits: A 6-year prospective analysis

This 6-year prospective study describes the impact on student attitudes of an innovative, interprofessional geriatrics curriculum (IPGC) focused on team-based care with older adults in a home-based community setting. Dental, medical, occupational therapy, pharmacy, physical therapy, and physician assistant students were placed into teams each led by faculty members from all of the professions. The curriculum consisted of five, four-hour sessions over one academic year. Teams met with a community-dwelling older adult three times. Students completed the Geriatric Assessment Scale (GAS) before and after the IPGC experience. At the conclusion, improvements in attitudes toward older adults in the GAS and its four domains - social value, medical care, compassion, and societal resources-were observed across a wide spectrum of students. Students with the lowest initial attitudes improved the most, as did the scores of the youngest students. Older students improved more than younger students in the social value domain (i.e., the perceived social value of older adults). Among disciplines, occupational therapy and social work students improved the most in the social value domain. This study demonstrates improvement in attitudes toward older adults from student involvement in IPGC that combines didactic and experiential learning through community partnerships in a home-based setting.