Geriatric Medicine Educational ResourcesGeriatric Medicine is classified as a sub-specialty of Internal Medicine and Family Practice Medicine and as such requires additional training. The training ideally is obtained via a fellowship which is an additional year after residency. Unfortunately, many physicians already out in practice can’t afford to go back to formal training. Luckily, this is not absolutely necessary. The field of geriatric medicine is relatively new and many of the leading practitioners have not attended formal training/fellowships, (including me). We learned on the job from mentors who were generous with their time and expertise. Whether our training was as rigorous as a formal fellowship is up for debate, never-the-less it was more than sufficient to become effective practitioners. I have been told and I agree that a majority of medicine is self taught anyway. Yes, the formal outline and guidance of an established program is important. The quality of the instructors can greatly enhance your learning, but when it really gets down to it, you train yourself. Luckily, there are numerous resources available to help. I would like to share a few that I have first hand knowledge of and recommend for further geriatric education. This is the basic organization that is at the core of American Geriatric Medicine today. Founded in 1942 it is a non-for-profit which boasts approximately 7000 members. It is a great source of geriatric training materials including the Geriatric Review Syllabus: A Core Curriculum in Geriatric Medicine and their Journal of the American Geriatric Society (JAGS) filled with up to date information and research. The AGS is involved with advocacy for the geriatric population and with raising public awareness of the need of geriatric health care. It would take a lifetime to fully use all of the resources available, but I recommend you try. Learn more about The American Geriatrics Society
Founded only relatively recently in 1978, AMDA is a professional organization whose focus is mainly on Long-Term Care Medicine. They target mainly physicians and medical directors in Long-Term Care facilities, but recently they have expanded their vision to include other members of the Long-Term Care continuum. AMDA has excellent educational materials. Topics covered include geriatric clinical protocols, visit coding and a Medical Director Training and Certification Program. I speak from first hand experience about the usefulness of Medical Director training. In my opinion AMDA membership is an absolute must for any serious geriatrician. Learn more about The American Medical Directors Association David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA I have used and highly recommend this very extensive review. It's a re-occurring event which is taped and presented for sale. It provides a great variety of everyday applicable clinical information all in one place. It's an indispensable study tool for the Geriatric Boards. I personally recommend just buying the CDs. There's too much information to absorb in 3-4 days. Buy the CDs and listen to one or two lectures a day. You can repeat one whenever you like. The cost this way is only a fraction of the total cost of the live presentation, if you count missed time off work, travel and accommodations, etc. Learn about UCLA Geraitric review course
Please note, my recommendations are totally free from any financial bias. I have absolutely no financial ties with any of the above organizations other than belonging to them or using their products. I receive no financial support of any kind relating to their products or my endorsements of them. From Geriatric Medicine Education Resources back to Qualifications
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