Teaching medical gerontology: utilization of a psychiatry consultation program

This is a report of a pilot project designed to explore the feasibility of using the clinical Adult Service Psychiatry Consultation-Liaison Program at the University of Michigan as the locus for teaching medical gerontology to psychiatric and medical/surgical house officers and medical students. The goals, general techniques, educational content, and implementation procedures are described. Evidence was obtained that teaching medical gerontology through the program is both feasible and effective. Since a nonphysician gerontologist implemented the clinically based teaching program, the project is an example of the possibilities inherent in a multidisciplinary clinical teaching program.