UCF Medical Student Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment

• Published in: MedEdPORTAL Vol. 8
• Main Authors: Golden, Adam, Berry, Angela, Cannarozzi, Maria L., Dangiolo, Mariana B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Association of American Medical Colleges 10.10.2012
• Subjects: Geriatrics
• ISSN: 2374-8265; 2374-8265
• DOI: 10.15766/mep_2374-8265.9251

Abstract Almost one out of eight Americans is 65 years-of-age and older. This number will more than double during the next 30 years. The high number of seniors requires health care providers to focus their efforts on the long-term management of chronic medical illnesses. A variety of geriatric assessment forms have been developed at academic medical centers to perform comprehensive geriatric assessments of such patients with the primary focus of these assessment forms centering on the clinical care of older adult patients. These forms are often not appropriate for medical student education. They are labor intensive and involve in-depth questioning that exceeds the skill level of a medical student. In addition to overwhelming the student with the volume of information they are asked to collect and analyze for a geriatric assessment, the length of the form may be viewed as burdensome by some patients. In contrast, several quick assessment screens have been developed which may have some clinical utility, but they do not provide the proper educational platform for medical students to appreciate the complexity of caring for an older adult patient. The University of Central Florida (UCF) Medical Student Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (MS-CGA) is designed specifically with the medical student and patient in mind, and can be used on any clinical medical student rotation with a geriatric theme. A majority of questions are answered in a yes/no format to both guide and remind the medical student as to the important issues to discuss when evaluating an older adult patient. UCF College of Medicine utilizes the form during the required third-year internal medicine/family medicine clerkship. The students are introduced to the MS-CGA during their first scheduled experience at an adult daycare site. During this 4-hour experience, they complete the assessment with a patient. The students are then given approximately 2 weeks to complete a report utilizing the data from their patient's MS-CGA and prepare a presentation to an interdisciplinary team that includes a faculty geriatrician and a geriatric nurse practitioner.