Medical Student Education
Sponsors:
The Division of Gerontology, Geriatric Medicine and the Center for Aging.
Summary:
Educational programs include a diversity of learners, including medical students,
family and internal medicine residents, geriatric medicine fellows, practicing physicians
and members of other disciplines involved in the care of older adults. For first-
and second-year medical students, geriatricians present lectures to the basic science
courses and teach small group sessions for introduction to clinical medicine. Junior
and senior medical students participate in Scholars' Week and a variety of clinical
preceptorships, covering acute and long-term care, palliation and end-of-life concerns,
and professors rounds are staffed by geriatrician attending physicians. Division
faculty are active in medical resident education in several venues, including intern
and morning report, medical grand rounds, house staff conferences, and on the VA
internal medicine ward service. Structured aging-related clinical experiences are
provided in the VA Geriatrics Assessment Clinic and the home-based primary care
service and in GRECC-sponsored continence, falls prevention, and mobility clinics.
Longitudinal clinical care experiences are provided at the Fairhaven Retirement Center
and the Spain-McDonald Geriatric Primary Care Clinic. Trainees at
all levels, practicing physicians, nurses, occupational and physical therapists,
social workers, and other providers of care to the elderly are invited to attend
weekly division conferences. These are the Thursday Geriatrics Medicine Clinical
Conference and the Friday noon scientific seminar.
Services:
In addition to the activities summarized above, faculty geriatricians, palliative
care specialists and gerontologists routinely volunteer for community-based events
in the larger Birmingham metropolitan area.
Opportunities for faculty involvement:
The division's educational programs are growing rapidly, and the demand for lecturers
and preceptors is expanding. Therefore, numerous opportunities for new faculty are
available.
Key contact person:
Marcia Green
VAMC 11G
(tel) (205) 934-3259
(fax) (205) 558-7068
Leaders and key staff:
- Richard M. Allman, M.D.
- Patricia Goode, M.D.
- Richard Sims, M.D.