Geriatric Medicine & Palliative Care

StudentsGeriatrics


Vinod Kaushik, MD
Vinod Kaushik , M.D
Geriatric Track Program Director

The geriatric track at UTMB is a four-year learning experience that provides a unique opportunity to enhance knowledge, skill sets, values and expertise in the care of older adults.

 

Geriatric Health scholarly concentration:

With a growing aging population, there is an increased need for physicians that have the specialized skills to provide excellent geriatric care in all settings. Elderly patients usually have multiple health problems, disease complications and functional failure. Our Geriatric Track provides knowledge of these issues that can help physicians differentiate normal aging from disease, face the challenge of multimorbidity, avoid iatrogenesis, and optimize older adults’ independence and quality of life. Such knowledge can also position physicians to help identify system-based problems that help to make healthcare safer and more responsive to the needs of chronically ill and frail.

Why a Geriatric Track?

  • By 2030, the older adult population will be more than seventy million.
  • The 65 and older consumes more health care than any other age group.
  • Clinicians in almost every medicine subspecialty and health care setting take care of older adults every day.
  • The presentation, management, and pathophysiology of disease often differ significantly in older adults.
  • Primary care physicians and subspecialists need to be better prepared to anticipate and manage the complex needs of the older population.
  • Students participating in the geriatric track will be eligible for The Edward T. and Ellie Weisiger Lefeber, Sr. Award. Participation will also be reflected in the student's MSPE (Dean's letter)

Goals:

  • Increase students' knowledge base and sensitivity to the issues of aging adults.
  • Introduce the principles of inpatient, outpatient, nursing home, and home care for older adults.
  • Facilitate research activities and critical thinking.
  • Strengthen programs to stimulate lifelong medical student interest in geriatrics.

Objectives:

  • Describe and perform with supervision the management of chronic, complex, and multiple illnesses in older patients.
  • Gain interview skills in order to communicate effectively with older patients and their families' utilizing accommodations for culture and educational level.
  • Assist patients in establishing goals of care and priorities.
  • Comprehend how to use health system services on behalf of senior citizens.
  • Confidently care for hospitalized and community dwelling older people throughout the spectrum of health (from healthy independent people to those approaching the end-of-life).

Major program components include:

  • Clinical Curriculum – Provides didactic training in a wide range of services including in patient acute care for the elderly (ACE) unit, geriatric clinic, skilled and community nursing facilities, home visits, adult rehabilitation, geriatric psychiatry, rheumatology, neurology, sleep medicine, pain service, hospice and urology-gynecology.
  • Geriatric Fellows' Conference – A series of lectures, case conferences, journal clubs, and board reviews including quality improvement (QI) coursework, the Lefeber Winter Series on Aging, and a Forum on Aging, which provide trainees with a broad scope of Geriatric education. 

Courses and activities:

  • Summer Program in Aging Research (MSTAR): is an 8–12-week intensive experience in aging research during the summer break following MS-1. This program provides a total stipend of approximately $3,720 and sponsors a paid trip to the national meeting of the American Geriatrics Society to present the research findings and network.
  • The Lefeber Winter Series on Aging: is a one-hour-lecture series given by recognized gerontology researchers and educators held on 6 successive Tuesdays from 5:00 to 6:00 beginning in January.
  • Annual Forum on Aging: The Sealy Center on Aging in conjunction with Research Services host the annual Forum on Aging poster around November from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. in the Levin Hall Dining Room.
  • Geriatrics Journal Club: A monthly noontime lunch journal club which discusses evidence-based medicine in geriatric topics.
  • Noon Conference: A weekly noontime lunch conference series on principles of geriatrics.
  • Geriatric Electives: Research in Geriatric Medicine and Community Gerontology.
  • Basic science and Humanity SelectiveJourney through dementia care.

Eligibility
All students enrolled in the School of Medicine are eligible.

Geriatric Track Application Form

Interested individuals should contact:
Leslie Simpton
Coordinator, Geriatric Track Program

or
Vinod Kaushik, M.D
Director, Geriatric Track Program