A model intensive course in geriatric teaching for non-geriatrician educators

INTRODUCTION: Because of the aging demographics nearly all medical specialties require faculty who are competent to teach geriatric care principles to learners, yet many non-geriatrician physician faculty members report they are not prepared for this role. AIMS: To determine the impact of a new educational intervention designed to improve the self-efficacy and ability of non-geriatrician clinician-educators to teach geriatric medicine principles to medical students and residents. DESCRIPTION: Forty-two non-geriatrician clinician-educator faculty from17 academic centers self-selected to participate in a 3-day on-site interactive intensive course designed to increase knowledge of specific geriatric medicine principles and to enhance teaching efficacy followed by up to a year of mentorship by geriatrics faculty after participants return to their home institutions. On average, 24% of their faculty time was spent teaching and 57% of their clinical practices involved patients aged over 65 years. Half of all participants were in General Internal Medicine, and the remaining were from diverse areas of medicine. EVALUATION: Tests of geriatrics medical knowledge and attitudes were high at baseline and did not significantly change after the intervention. Self-rated knowledge about specific geriatric syndromes, self-efficacy to teach geriatrics, and reported value for learning about geriatrics all improved significantly after the intervention. A quarter of the participants reported they had achieved at least one of their self-selected 6-month teaching goals. DISCUSSION: An intensive 3-day on-site course was effective in improving self-reported knowledge, value, and confidence for teaching geriatrics principles but not in changing standardized tests of geriatrics knowledge and attitudes in a diverse group of clinician-educator faculty. This intervention was somewhat associated with new teaching behaviors 6 months after the intervention. Longer-term investigations are underway to determine the sustainability of the effect and to determine which factors predict the faculty who most benefit from this innovative model.