Primary Care Continuum Curriculum (PCC)

In 1994 the college established a new problem-based curriculum track focusing on primary care. The PCC curriculum provides an option for approximately twenty students each year who apply for inclusion in this self-directed educational approach. Students in the PCC spend much of their time in small group discussion, in the clinical setting or working individually. Each week, six-to-eight hours are devoted to group discussion and laboratory work. Our geriatricians, along with other clinical faculty members, have written several cases with a geriatrics focus for the PCC curriculum. Laboratory content Experiencing the Sensory Changes of Aging."

Clinical Presentation Continuum (CPC)

In September 1999, the traditional systems-based curriculum at OU-HCOM was replaced by the Clinical Presentation Continuum curriculum. The CPC curriculum, a patient-focused, case-based approach to medical education, emphasizes hands-on learning, provides frequent opportunities for early clinical contact, takes advantage of the dynamics of small group learning and has fewer hours of large group lectures. The Geriatric Medicine/Gerontology faculty facilitate at least four groups per year.

The CPC’s three-week Geriatrics Block includes lectures, small group case discussions, clinical skills, and Sensory Changes Laboratory (http://www.oucom.ohiou.edu/OUM/Winter-09/SensoryLab/compassion.htm).

The Geriatrics Block introduces CPC students to key concepts essential to caring for older adults. Older adults often have three or more chronic medical conditions, take multiple medications and respond to treatments and medications differently than do younger patients. This block targets these often complicated overlapping factors. An emphasis is placed on understanding the following:

·         aging versus disease

·         geriatric syndromes and atypical presentation of disease

·         providing care across the continuum of locations - ambulatory, hospital, assisted living, nursing home, and home

·         comprehensive geriatric assessment

·         psychosocial and environmental considerations

·         pharmacology/prescribing practices

·         advance directives

The OU-HCOM Geriatric Medicine Club, a student chapter of the American Geriatrics Society, provides networking opportunities for students with an interest in the health care of older adults. Guest geriatricians are invited to campus by the Club, and members provide service projects in the community at senior centers and nursing homes.

Students with an interest in geriatrics may participate in an informal program to receive career mentoring in geriatrics. This may involve spending additional time doing electives in geriatrics at OU-HCOM and/or taking advantage of external opportunities such as the AFAR Medical Student Geriatric Scholars Program, the Edinburgh Geriatrics Tutorial and the Summer Institute in Geriatrics at Boston University Medical Center.

All OU-HCOM medical students complete at least one two-week geriatrics clerkship. At four sites – Athens, Youngstown, Massillon and Dayton – students are required to complete four weeks of geriatrics. During the geriatrics rotation, students work with older adults in a variety of settings, including ambulatory clinic, hospital, home care, assisted living, long-term care and hospice. In addition, students learn about community resources such as senior centers and "meals-on-wheels." The clerkship experiences are taught through the college's Centers for Osteopathic Research and Education (CORE) teaching hospitals located throughout Ohio. The CORE system, a consortium comprised of OU-HCOM, three other colleges of osteopathic medicine and twelve Ohio teaching hospitals, integrates osteopathic clerkship, internship and residency programs statewide. An annual faculty development program provides geriatric preceptors from around the state of Ohio with updates on teaching clinical geriatrics.

MSTAR 2013 

Applications due January 31, 2013

Boston University Medical Center
May 20 - May 24, 2013

Financial Support: Full financial support is available.

Who: Medical students who are entering their 3rd or 4th year of medical school in July of 2013 are encouraged to apply for the 2013 Boston University Summer Institute in Geriatrics Medicine.  

What:  The Summer Institute in Geriatrics is a week-long conference designed for medical students interested in pursuing careers in academic geriatric medicine and geriatric research. Activities include lectures, seminars, and case discussions as well as site visits to research and clinical programs. Faculty members will include nationally recognized academic geriatricians and other individuals pursuing research in geriatrics and gerontology.

Why: The goal of the Summer Institute is to stimulate interest in pursuing careers in academic geriatric medicine and geriatric research.

Where: Boston University Medical Center

When: Applications must be received by January 7, 2013. Successful applicants will be notified by February 4, 2013. The course is May 20-24, 2013.

For program information, and a downloadable application please click here. 

Sponsored by BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE and the AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY with funding provided by the NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING

Jerrod Steimle presented his poster: The inpatient hospital experience of caregivers of older adults: A qualitative study. He received a Jerome Kowal Scholarship to help cover conference costs.

AGS in Washington D.C. May, 2011

George Asaad, MS II, presented at the Presidential Poster Session at AGS in Washington, D.C. May 12: Title: Rapamycin inhibition of TNF-alpha production by splenocytes in a rat model for obese frailty: Specific to T-cell stimulation as part of the MSTAR program. He received a Jerome Kowal Scholarship to help cover conference costs.

AGS in Orlando, FL, May 12-15, 2010

Left to right: Chau Uong OMSII and Rachel Hart, OMSII,2009 MSTAR students; Wayne Carlsen, D.O., Chris Varacallo, OMSIII, who presented research he completed with Dr. Gau; Erica Oleson, D.O., OU-HCOM 2007 graudate; Rachel Hart; Sara Snyder, D.O., OU-HCOM 2006 graduate

March, 2010: Chau Uong,OMSII, is a lead author on “Pain and opioid use are not associated with delirium when utilizing an established clinical pathway for hip fracture repair in elderly patients,”  submitted to Journal of Anesthesia and Analgesia. Click here to read article.

June, 2009: Steven Walston, OMS IV, presented his research at the June 3 (2009) Digestive Disease Week (DDW), a meeting of the American Gastroenterological Association Institute in Chicago.  Walston’s presentation, “Association between risk factors for constipation and severity of stool retention as analyzed by abdominal x-ray,” was given during the Aging, Physiology and Clinical Gastroenterology Research Forum of DDW, the biggest national meeting among GI tract researchers and gastroenterologists.

Also participating in the research were Jen-Tzer Gau, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of geriatrics; Michael Finamore, OMS IV; and Christopher P. Varacallo, OMS II. 

Pictured are Jen-Tzer Gau, M.D., Ph.D. and Steven Walston, OMS IV

March, 2009: Laura Stachowicz, OMSI, won 2^nd place for her poster, Cancer Screening Behaviors in HIV-infected Older Adults, at ACOFP (Dr. Heckman was her mentor).

February, 2008: Utkarsh Acharya, OMS IV had his paper published in the Journal of Hematology & Oncology:

Utkarsh Acharya, Jen-Tzer Gau, William Horvath, Paolo Ventura, Chung-Tsen Hsueh,Wayne Carlsen “Hemolysis and hyperhomocysteinemia caused by cobalamin deficiency:  three case reports and review of the literature.” Journal of Hematology & Oncology; 2008, 1:26. http://www.jhoonline.org/content/1/1/26

Since 1985, the Geriatrics department has sponsored a four-week summer geriatrics tutorial for two OU-HCOM students to study at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, a world-class center for research and training in geriatrics. The tutorial consists of study and clinical experience with the University of Edinburgh's geriatrics faculty. Clinical work is done at the Royal Infirmary, in day hospitals and through making house calls throughout the city. Rachel Liptak and Amanda McConnell are the two newest students who spent four weeks in Edinburgh beginning July 10, 2006. Students selected for 2008 are Rebecca Teagarden and Katherine Ritchey. Generous donations from previous participants fund over 75% of the cost. The University of Edinburgh is no longer taking OU-HCOM students because of changes in their curriculum and increased class sizes.

2008

• Rebecca Teagarden

• Katherine Ritchey

2007

• Lauren Wasson

• Jennifer Drost

2006:

• Click to read Amanda McConnell's paper from summer, 2006.

• Click to read Rachel Liptak's paper from summer, 2006.

2005:

• Click to read Andrea Geise's paper from summer, 2005.
• Click to read Erika Oleson's paper.
• Click to download survey used by Andrea Geise and Erika Oleson.
• Click to download overview presentation. (62MB)
• Click to download Erika Oleson's presentation on Balfour Hospital. (54MB)
• Click to download Andre Geise's presentation. (78MB)

2004:

• Click to read about Scott Grogan and Kim Wells Edinburgh geriatric tutorial experiences. 
• Click to read Scott Grogan's paper.
• Click to ready Kim Wells paper.

2003: Click to read about Sunyata Austin's and Candice Flaugher's experience.

2002: Click to read Caroline Stevens and Eric Kagaruki experience.