Implementing a multidimensional geriatric curriculum in a physical medicine and rehabilitation residency program

Abstract

Residency training in physical medicine and rehabilitation may not contain a formal curriculum in geriatric patient care. A multidimensional geriatric curriculum to third and fourth year physical medicine and rehabilitation residents was implemented to enhance their knowledge in and attitude toward geriatrics. The curriculum consisted of a 12-wk clinical rotation at various sites of geriatric care including outpatient geriatric clinic, skilled nursing facility, continuing care retirement community, and home visits. Six online self-learning modules and multiple didactic sessions were also created. The residents' knowledge and attitude were assessed by pretest and posttest design using the Geriatric Knowledge Test, the Geriatric Attitude Scale, and the Attitudes Toward Teamwork in Healthcare Scale. In addition, the residents completed rotation evaluations to rate their learning experiences. Ten postgraduate year 3 and 4 physical medicine and rehabilitation residents participated in the geriatric curriculum, which included a required rotation. The Geriatric Knowledge Test score at baseline was 67.2%. With the completion of the curriculum, the Geriatric Knowledge Test scores showed improvement to 72.7%, although not statistically significant. The residents showed more favorable attitudes toward the geriatric population and interdisciplinary teamwork as measured by the Geriatric Attitude Scale and the Attitudes Toward Teamwork in Healthcare Scale. Overall, they rated the learning experiences highly on a 1-9 rating scale, with 9 being the highest rating; the residents assigned an average rating of 7.06 to specific learning activities within the rotation and an average rating of 6.89 to the organizational aspects of the rotation itself. The implementation of this geriatric curriculum allowed for improved geriatric training in physical medicine and rehabilitation residents.