Teaching medicine interns minimum geriatrics competencies within a "4 + 2" schedule.

The increased ambulatory training time in an "X + Y" (inpatient + ambulatory) residency schedule affords more opportunities to teach geriatrics principles of care. We describe our internal medicine (IM) residency program's experience in teaching the IM-family medicine (FM) minimum geriatrics competencies (MGC) during a longitudinal geriatrics rotation embedded within interns' yearlong "4 + 2" schedule. Interns spend 1 day of the ambulatory block in a geriatrics outpatient setting (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, house calls, nursing home), during which geriatrics division faculty members give core didactic seminars. We revamped core seminars to address MGC related to medication management, cognitive health, complex chronic illnesses, end of life care, and ambulatory care. Three consecutive intern cohorts completed anonymous surveys pre- and postrotation, rating their confidence level in MGC addressed by the curriculum on a 5-point Likert scale. On postrotation surveys, they also rated the curriculum's contribution to geriatrics skills enhancement. Interns who completed both surveys (N = 22, 92%) reported statistically significant improved confidence ratings on all items, with the greatest point gains seen in performance of functional assessment (1.56), practice of optimal geriatric pharmacotherapy (1.78), and identification of older patients eligible for skilled (1.71) and unskilled home-based services (1.65). They rated geriatrics curricular components as being more helpful than other rotations and conferences in enhancing their geriatric skills. In conclusion, we developed a longitudinal geriatrics curriculum within the context of our "4 + 2" immersion schedule which other programs can easily adapt. Aligning curricular content with the MGC has resulted in interns' improved confidence in several important geriatrics skills.

Training Internal Medicine Residents in Social Medicine and Research-Based Health Advocacy: A Novel, In-Depth Curriculum.

PROBLEM: Health disparities are pervasive worldwide. Physicians have a unique vantage point from which they can observe the ways social, economic, and political factors impact health outcomes and can be effective advocates for enhanced health outcomes and health equity. However, social medicine and health advocacy curricula are uncommon in postgraduate medical education. APPROACH: In academic year (AY) 2012, the Cambridge Health Alliance internal medicine residency program transformed an elective into a required social medicine and research-based health advocacy curriculum. The course has three major innovations: it has a yearlong longitudinal curriculum, it is required for all residents, and all residents complete a group research-based health advocacy project within the curricular year. The authors describe the structure, content, and goals of this curriculum. OUTCOMES: Over the last four years (AYs 2012-2015), residents (17/32; 53%) have rated the overall quality of the course highly (mean = 5.2, where 6 = outstanding; standard deviation = 0.64). In each year since the new course has been implemented, all scholarly work from the course has been presented at conferences by 31 resident presenters and/or coauthors. The course seems to enhance the residency program's capacity to recruit high-caliber residents and faculty members. NEXT STEPS: The authors are collecting qualitative and quantitative data on the impact of the course. They will use their findings to advocate for a national health advocacy competency framework. Recommendations about how to initiate or further develop social medicine and health advocacy curricula are offered.