Training health professionals in the care of the elderly

Twenty-seven projects for the development of interdisciplinary geriatric curricula were supported by the Health Resources Administration's Bureau of Health Professions in fiscal 1979. A variety of clinical training sites were used (e.g., university gerontology centers, VA medical centers, senior citizen facilities, adult health care centers), and innovative teaching approaches were developed. For example, a combined medical/dental/optometry clinic is conducted by students at the three professional schools; medical students accompany volunteers serving Meals on Wheels; and dental students treat patients in nursing homes in a mobile dental unit. Students have gained insights into the problems of the elderly and the roles of other health professionals through the interdisciplinary-team training courses. Nurse-practitioner programs to prepare nurses to provide primary health care to the elderly were also supported by the Bureau, as were special projects to develop short-term in-service basic training programs for nurses' aides and orderlies in nursing homes, to upgrade the skills of the paraprofessionals who care for the elderly. In other projects, the geriatric educational needs of pharmacy students were assessed, and dental schools promoted remote-site training to improve access to dental care for the elderly.