The Medical College of Wisconsin Senior Mentor Program: experience of a lifetime.

The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) Senior Mentor Program (SMP) has been offered to a small group of first and second year medical students as a course alternative to the traditional physician mentor program. The program links students with healthy older adult mentors and includes mentor/student visits, didactic sessions, written assignments, and shadowing experiences. The goals of the course are to increase positive attitudes about aging and geriatrics and to teach basic assessment and interviewing skills in geriatric content areas. A course evaluation including questionnaires, focus groups, and content analysis found that students experienced positive attitude change about geriatric patient care, increased knowledge about geriatrics, and satisfaction with the mentor/student relationship. Students have reported gains in their knowledge of geriatric and gait assessment, ADL evaluation, and mental health screening, among other issues. Further, students report being excited, more comfortable, and less fearful caring for and interacting professionally with older adults as a result of the SMP. The SMP is an effective and meaningful method of geriatric education for preclinical students. It may be an alternative at medical schools that cannot support a large-scale multi-year senior mentor program.

The Medical College of Wisconsin's program to strengthen geriatrics education.

Medical care for geriatric patients requires physician training that promotes the acquisition of attitudes, knowledge and skills that will permit future practitioners to meet the health needs of increasing numbers of aged patients. MCW has strengthened its traditional curriculum by focusing on student attitudes in the early pre-clinical years through outreach and interest groups programs. Knowledge is integrated throughout the 4-year curriculum using our aging virtual patients. These patients are a teaching resource to the entire faculty. Attitudes, knowledge, and skills in geriatrics are further developed through an M3 geriatrics medicine option and the M4 Integrated Selective. Geriatric-specific skills are emphasized through the use of standardized patients and objective structured clinical examinations in the M4 Selective. It is anticipated that these students efforts will create interest in a novel residency experience (Med-Ger) that will ensure that upon successful completion of the program, residents are expert in geriatric medicine practice and meet criteria for board certification in geriatric medicine.