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Biomedical subjects

Ellen Roberts

Publications and source records attributed to Ellen Roberts.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Preparing medical students to care for older adults: the impact of a Senior Mentor Program.

PURPOSE: To provide alternative training experiences for medical students to improve the competencies needed to provide care for older adults. METHOD: Part of a comprehensive approach to integrating geriatric content at the University of South Carolina (USC) School of Medicine, the Senior Mentor Program (SMP) was launched in 2000. The SMP links pairs of students with older community volunteers in the spring of the first year. Students visit their mentors throughout medical school, and execute assignments that complement materials covered in the traditional curriculum. To evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of the SMP, the authors describe the program's operation and outputs, the extent to which undergraduate medical education at USC and the SMP meet the core competencies for care of older adults promulgated by the American Geriatrics Society (AGS), and analyze the coverage of geriatrics content from 2000 to 2005 at USC, as indicated by responses to the Medical School Graduation Questionnaire. RESULTS: From 2000 to 2005, 379 students enrolled in the SMP; 133 graduates of the classes of 2004 and 2005 have completed the SMP. Students and mentors indicated high acceptance and enthusiasm. The program has been maintained with minimal administrative burden. USC covered only half of AGS competencies before the SMP, but now covers 100%, with nearly a third met specifically through the SMP. USC graduates reporting inclusion of geriatrics throughout their four years of training rose from 66% in 2002 to 96% in 2004-05. CONCLUSIONS: The SMP has had a substantial impact on students' preparation for dealing with an aging patient population.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Medical student and senior participants' perceptions of a mentoring program designed to enhance geriatric medical education.

In 2000, the Senior Mentor Program was implemented as an innovative, instructional method in the University of South Carolina's medical school curriculum designed to enhance and strengthen student training in geriatrics. This study qualitatively analyzed second- year medical students' and senior participants' perceptions of and attitudes towards the Senior Mentor Program as an effective learning modality. A total of 36 second-year students from two consecutive classes (2002-2003) and 42 senior mentors at USC's School of Medicine participated in five and seven separate focus group interviews, respectively. The group discussions were transcribed and a content analysis performed using NVivo. The coding scheme and analyses were driven by the data collected and recurrent themes were examined across all focus groups. Overall, student and senior mentor participants viewed the program positively. Thematic comparisons by participant type indicate a shared view that the mentoring relationship has a far-reaching, educational, professional, and personal impact. Both students and seniors agreed that myths and stereotypes about aging were dispelled and students indicated that a close, caring relationship with an older person will change they way they practice. A longitudinal mentoring program that pairs students with community-dwelling seniors can be a valuable addition to traditional geriatric curricular activities designed to increase students' skills and compassion for caring for older adults.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Teaching communication and listening skills to medical students using life review with older adults.

The University of South Carolina School of Medicine introduced a seminar in 2003 to teach communication and listening skills to third year medical students. The students learned a structured communication format called "L-I-S-T-E-N" which they utilized to conduct a life review with an adult over age 65. The faculty evaluated this educational experience using transcribed audiotapes of the life reviews, reflection papers written by the students, and interviews with students and mentors about the life review session. The life review experience increased students' understanding of how psychosocial, cultural, spiritual, and life-changing events affect health and health behaviors.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

The Senior Mentor Program at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine: an innovative geriatric longitudinal curriculum.

This paper describes development, implementation, and evaluation strategies of a longitudinal geriatric curriculum, the Senior Mentor Program (SMP). The rationale for exposing undergraduate medical students to healthy, community-dwelling older adults is to use the relationship and activities as vehicles for improving knowledge of aging and providing students experience with aging as a stage and process. The University of South Carolina School of Medicine's major aim in geriatrics is to prepare students to become skilled physicians in care of older adults. The SMP is embedded into the curriculum. The program introduced medical students to healthy older adults, presented selected health care issues in this population, integrated material early in the curriculum, acquainted students with longitudinal patient care, and introduced students to older adults' living arrangements. The SMP is an effective means of infusing geriatric content into the medical school curriculum and positively affects mentors' and students' attitudes toward each other. This has implications for medical and professional schools, such as nursing, social work, and physical therapy.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Geriatrics training and education for nongeriatrician faculty: the Dean's Faculty Scholars in Aging Program.

The University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Columbia implemented the Dean's Faculty Scholars in Aging (DFSA) Program in 2001 to strengthen the knowledge of geriatrics of nongeriatrician faculty members. The primary indicator of strengthening physicians' geriatrics knowledge was the development of new educational experiences by physicians in the DFSA Program. Twenty-six nongeriatrician faculty in seven departments were recruited to participate as scholars. Most scholars were in key educational positions, including assistant deans, department chairs, and clerkship and residency directors. Scholars received special training to develop geriatrics educational experiences based on their medical specialty and interests. Training encouraged cross-departmental collaboration. Scholars also had access to resources, including professional geriatric educators. Funds were available to support development of educational experiences and for a small amount of salary support. Since the program was implemented, 36 new geriatric experiences have been developed, 29 of the 36 were implemented, and 11 of the 36 were evaluated. Experiences included an elective for residents in the care of older patients in the emergency room and a required hospice rotation in the psychiatry clerkship for third-year medical students. All scholars developed a geriatrics educational experience, and most implemented one. This suggests that scholars demonstrated successful progress in geriatrics training.

Aged↗
PubMed2002

Senior mentor program: a geriatrics focused curriculum.

OBJECTIVE: To introduce medical students to a healthy elderly population and present the health care challenges in this population. DESCRIPTION: As medical education has begun to focus more on our aging population and their future health needs, the University of South Carolina School of Medicine has developed a senior mentor program. This program provides a longitudinal experience for undergraduate students with local elders. The program, currently in its second year, will provide multiple opportunities for students to follow their same senior mentors over a four-year period both in the home and in the clinical setting. In partnership with the division of geriatrics, healthy patients over 65 were recruited to serve as senior mentors. Students, mostly in pairs, were assigned either one senior mentor or a couple, whom they met for the first time at the beginning of the second semester of their first year. Using a multidisciplinary approach, modules have been developed so students can learn how their senior mentors function on a daily basis, thus assessing the whole person, their health, their medical needs, their life-styles, and their social and physical environments. During the first year, students meet with their senior mentors four times and complete modules that address the physiology of aging, medical history taking, mental status examination, and psychological issues involving growing old. The modules were designed to coordinate with other areas of the curriculum where these concepts are being taught so that the students have an opportunity to put them into practice. Students check their senior mentors' blood pressures and write up their findings and thoughts about aging during each visit. In the second year the students meet with their senior mentors six times. Modules include assessing the senior mentors' diets; developing a behavioral modification plan in the first semester; and performing an environmental safety check, physical examination, and medication evaluation. The modules are coordinated with the curriculum and involve student consultation with our nutritionist and pharmacists. As the students enter their third and fourth years they will be expected to continue to meet with their senior mentors, to discuss issues concerning death and dying and advance directives, and to accompany their mentors to a physician visit. DISCUSSION: The responses from students, senior mentors, and faculty have been overwhelmingly positive. Students have enjoyed the early clinical experience, senior mentors have enjoyed meeting and talking to the students, and the faculty are pleased with the ability to integrate classroom material into a clinical setting early in the curriculum. Difficulties have arisen as some of our senior mentors have become ill and in the coordination of schedules between senior mentors and students. The plan is to continue the program as a permanent part of the curriculum. The hope is that it will be seen as a model for increasing the focus on geriatrics and early clinical experiences in the curriculum.

Age Factors↗