by Jennifer Kowalewski

When Erika Oleson and Andrea Geise traveled to Scotland this past summer, the duo did more than study geriatrics in Edinburgh, a city known for its leading research in the field. The two fourth-year OU-COM students partook of their first golf outing, the British Open, where they stood 10 feet from Tiger Woods and other golf greats on the links.

Oleson and Geise spent a month in July 2005 completing the Charles J. Cannon Edinburgh Geriatric Tutorial Program through the University of Edinburgh. The tutorial is one of many international programs available to students at OU-COM.

“The purpose of the tutorial is to examine the elderly care in Scotland,” Geise says at a PowerPoint presentation Oct. 28 in Irvine Hall. The duo studied the medical care of elderly patients in emergency rooms.

Unlike the United States, Scotland’s health-care system falls under the umbrella of the National Health Service, with the mission of providing quality health-care. Although there are private hospitals, most are operated by the state. Oleson says the two studied at Astley Ainslie Hospital.

Providers focus on promoting good health and wellness, with free medications for the elderly. Oleson noted a drawback — patients have to wait for elective surgeries such as cataract removal.

Geriatric care is important not only in Scotland, but increasingly in the United States as more baby boomers retire. Oleson says as the population ages, more will need medical care. Instead of patients heading to a hospital or long-term care facility, Scotland has discovered ways to keep the elderly at home. In their older years, 95 percent of the elderly stay home, with only a small percentage requiring hospitalization.

“The patients come in for some type of problem, such as an orthopedic one,” Geise says. “They also had dementia diagnosed. We learned you can’t look at patients for just orthopedic problems — you have to examine related things as well. There may be other issues at play.”  

This is a core value of osteopathic medicine — to treat the whole patient, not just the symptoms.

Besides the hospital, the two had the opportunity to study at Sterling Dementia Center, where facilities are designed with patients in mind. Even the doors are color coded to better help patients with dementia understand where they are going throughout the building.

Despite being a medical care facility, the center has a cozy, homelike feel, with decorations. The two students spent time in the extensive library at Sterling, working, no doubt, on research projects.

Geise worked primarily with caregivers and staff.

“I learned quite a bit from caregivers,” she says. “They were willing to share their experiences. We found patients were getting very good care.”

And just because a patient had difficulty functioning one day, Geise says, the staff stressed the next day he or she could be better. Patients were given the right to make their own decision when they could, often noted even in their chart to allow them to pick things such as what they wanted to eat for dinner.

Oleson spent her research time at Balfour Hospital, which was referred to as a “day hospital,” a place where patients could stay throughout the day, then return home in the evening. Oleson remembered one caregiver talking about how he loved getting the time off to run errands, or just relax, before being reunited with his loved one.

“It provides patients a place to go during the day but then return home,” she says. “This helps the patient and the caregiver.”