Medical Faculty Beliefs: Self-Rated Importance and Confidence in Teaching Geriatrics Primary Care

An age-friendly residency: Geriatrician and internist perspectives on geriatric education in an internal medicine residency

BACKGROUND

General internists and subspecialists need skills to deliver age-friendly care to older adults, yet a minority of Internal Medicine (IM) residency programs provide robust geriatric-specific clinical instruction. We sought to explore internist and geriatrician perspectives regarding current strengths and weakness of geriatric education, and perceived supports, barriers, and strategies to enhance geriatric education in an IM residency program.

METHODS

Using social learning theory as a conceptual framework, we conducted a needs assessment using focus groups and semi-structured interviews with IM residency leadership and geriatricians at an academic medical center. Interviews were recorded and transcribed; thematic analysis was performed on deidentified transcripts.

RESULTS

We recruited faculty by e-mail in 2021; eight geriatricians and seven internists participated (60% female, 13% Hispanic/Latino, and 73% White). Six participated in two virtual focus groups and nine participated in virtual one-on-one interviews. All had at least monthly teaching contact with residents and six were associate program directors. We identified five key themes: (1) professional role models, (2) personal attitudes toward aging, (3) the powerful influence of patients, (4) clinical complexity of geriatrics, and (5) branding and prestige of the field. Participants offered multiple suggestions for improvement, especially faculty development for non-geriatrician faculty.

CONCLUSIONS

Geriatric education for IM residents is impacted by multiple factors, but uniformly viewed as important. Moving forward, programs could capitalize on opportunities for closer collaboration between residency leadership, internists, and geriatricians to train the next generation of IM residency graduates to deliver age-friendly care.

Attitudes toward aging of health professions students: Implications for geriatrics education

We compared attitudes toward aging of students from several health professions (N = 1,156: 286 medical, 275 pharmacy, 213 undergraduate nursing, 160 graduate nursing, 139 Internal Medicine residents, 49 physical therapy, and 34 physician assistant), and assessed the construct validity of the Image of Aging Scale. Physical therapy and graduate nursing students reported more positive attitudes toward aging in comparison to all other health professions (all p <.001). Differences in attitudes were not strongly affected by demographic variables, clinical exposure, desire to pursue primary care, or interest in providing care to older adults. The Image of Aging Scale yielded good internal reliability and adequate construct validity for health professions students. Health professions students' attitudes toward aging largely reflect the students' professional training, rather than student characteristics or career goals. The Image of Aging Scale is a robust measure of attitudes toward aging in health professions students and in older adults.

Beliefs regarding geriatrics primary care topics among medical students and internal medicine residents

This study evaluated beliefs regarding 25 content areas essential to the primary care of older adults and attitudes toward aging held by first-yearmedical students and Internal Medicine residents. A survey of 136 medical students and 61 Internal Medicine residents was conducted at an academic health-center. Beliefs were assessed by the 25-item Geriatrics Clinician-Educator Survey. Gap scores reflecting the difference in ratings between self-rated importance and knowledge were calculated. Attitudes toward aging was assessed by the Images of Aging Scale. Students and residents expressed similar beliefs about the importance of content areas, but students provided lower ratings in knowledge. Students reported larger gap scores in areas that reflected general primary care (e.g., chronic conditions, medications), whereas residents reported larger gap scores in areas that reflected specialists' expertise (e.g., driving risk, cognition, psychiatric symptoms). Attitudes toward aging did not differ appreciably between students and residents. Our findings suggest that primary care topics applicable for any age demographic were rated as most important by first-year medical students and Internal Medicine residents. Topics relevant to older populations--particularly those requiring specialists' knowledge of or requiring sensitive discussion with older adults-were rated as less important and were less well-mastered.