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Current & Choice New ideas in education, research and patient care Caring for the Elderly: 20 Schools Awarded Hartford Foundation Grants AAMC 2000 Hartford Grant Award Recipients listed at bottom of this page. By 2030 every other patient seen by a family doctor will elderly. The over-65 age group is expected to skyrocket to 70 million-20 percent of the national population-in the next 30 years. And as new technology and treatments increasingly postpone death but not disease, doctors already have to care for sicker elderly patients and confront end-of-life issues as never before. Medical education, for its part, is changing to meet the need for training in geriatric medicine. Gerontology and geriatrics are increasingly represented in U.S. medical school curricula: 122 of the nation's 125 medical schools now require the subjects as part of their regular course work. The AAMC, in collaboration with the New York City-based John A. Hartford Foundation, recently awarded 20 grants to U.S. medical schools to enhance their geriatrics curricula. Each school will receive $50,000 per year, totaling $100,000 over the life of the two-year awards. The grants are the result of a four-year, $2.6 million commitment the Hartford Foundation made last December to boost gerontology and geriatric teaching at AAMC member schools. The 20 schools are expected to offer fully integrated curricula spanning the four years of medical school training. Specifically, the institutions are charged with providing medical students with the skills needed to deliver high-quality, compassionate care to the nation's burgeoning elderly population and to effectively handle complex end-of-life care issues. The AAMC Reporter talked to a sampling of grant recipients about their programs. University of Miami School of Medicine Florida, which already has the largest percentage of elderly residents in the country, is preparing for more. "Because of the influx of seniors in coming years, we need doctors who are knowledgeable about our older generation," says Lisa Granville, M.D., associate professor of Medicine at Miami. "For me, the elderly are the best to learn from." Starting in the first year of medical school, Miami students will establish one-on-one relationships with seniors. During their third year, students will work directly with geriatricians, and their last year will be spent defining geriatric-related learning objectives to pursue throughout their careers. To reinforce the new curriculum, Miami is developing a Web-based resource to help learners manage and tie together the various instructional elements. Information: Lisa Granville, M.D. East Tennessee State University East Tennessee State University plans to involve students in its geriatric curriculum from day one. First-year students will forge personal relationships with seniors and will work in a variety of elder care settings, including assisted living and long-term care facilities. We are maximizing our community focus to become a 'school without walls.' We want our students to encounter elders in real-life situations such as wellness centers, nursing homes, and adult assisted-living facilities," says Jacqueline Lloyd, M.D., director of the Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology and Undergraduate Education. "All future physicians, regardless of specialty, will have their practice impacted by the aging population." The Internet will also figure prominently in East Tennessee's strategy. The school is using the Web to develop an electronic learner portfolio in which students will record and access their own experiences in geriatric medicine. Faculty and students will also use this secure Web site to monitor and assess students' progress. Information: Jacqueline Lloyd, M.D. University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine The University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine will team up with a retirement residence to design part of its curriculum. The school and the John Knox Retirement Village are crafting a module that pairs students with village residents so students can learn about issues affecting seniors and support their elderly partners. Unlike most other programs, UMKC is a combined baccalaureate-M.D. degree program, and students' interactions with the older adults at John Knox Village will occur during the first two years of their undergraduate studies. Faculty anticipate that the interactions will last throughout the six-year curriculum. "We hope to help students understand the early processes of aging and eliminate negative stereotypes," says Louise Arnold, Ph.D., UMKC associate dean for Medical Education. "Students who enter our program as 18-year-olds typically have had relatively limited contact with older adults. This will be a new experience." Information: Louise Arnold, Ph.D. Materials produced by the grantees will be disseminated to all U.S. and Canadian medical schools during the AAMC's Annual Meeting and through academic publications, workshops, poster sessions, and other professional meetings. The final year of the grant will feature a conference, sponsored by the AAMC and the Hartford Foundation, about geriatrics and gerontology in medical education. Information: M. Brownell Anderson, AAMC Division of Medical Education, (202) 828-0562 or Alexis L. Ruffin, AAMC Division of Medical Education, (202) 828-0439 AAMC 2000 Hartford Grant Award Recipients University of Arizona College of Medicine University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine University of Connecticut School of Medicine Southern Illinois University School of Medicine Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine University of Kansas School of Medicine University of Miami School of Medicine University of Minnesota Medical School University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine Mount Sinai School of Medicine of New York University University of Nebraska College of Medicine University of North Carolina School of Medicine Ohio State University College of Medicine University of South Carolina School of Medicine East Tennessee State University James H. Quillen College of Medicine Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center University of Texas Medical Branch Medical College of Wisconsin University of Wisconsin Medical School

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