The NBC affiliate, KARE 11 in Minneapolis, Minnesota reported this week on a novel approach to educating medical students about senior care. The University of Minnesota School of Medicine has partnered with senior care provider Augustana Care to create an elective course for medical students who have an interest in practicing geriatric care. The senior care community offers students apartment units at a discounted rate, in exchange for the students completing community service hours within the building.
“Really my vision is to re-integrate senior housing, to think of intergenerational programming as an opportunity for young professionals to have a positive experience with seniors,” explained Edward Ratner, M.D., associate professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota.
Students have embraced the opportunity to gain a new perspective on the seniors who may one day be their patient population. Dr. Ratner has seen such a positive response to the program that he has expanded to graduate level students of other disciplines; seminary and physical therapy students are also part of the Augusta senior community.
“You can tell someone in the clinic, ‘Go home and take your pills,’ and then that’s it. But here you get to see, sometimes they have trouble getting a cup of water, or [need] help getting to the refrigerator, or buying groceries,” says Lindy Watanaskul, fourth-year medical student.
The medical student program represents a victory for the numerous initiatives throughout the country aimed at better educating the future work force of senior care professionals. Congressional pressures have also influenced similar programs to change the model for educating medical students on geriatric care. Programs like the one at Augustana move away from “the same model of saying ‘Oh, just [visit] sick people in the nursing home or in the clinics,’” say Ratner.
Similar initiatives have championed this multigenerational and personalized approach to senior care and many have had success in local communities throughout the country; bringing rise to a new philosophy of care for the frail elderly and providing hope to our aging population.
