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.”
- 30 -
News for
the week of Nov
28 –
Dec 3
