Integrating geriatric competencies in the undergraduate medical education

Abstract

With the advancements in science and the field of medicine, it has become a reality that people are living longer in contrast to the earlier trends of life expectancy. The current review was carried out to explore the integration of geriatric competencies in the medical education curriculum. An extensive search of all materials related to the topic was carried out in the PubMed search engine, and a total of five articles were selected based upon the suitability with the current review objectives and analyzed. As it is quite obvious that in the years to come all the medical doctors will encounter a large number of elderly patients with physical, psychological, and other social concerns, it becomes indispensable to expose them to different geriatric competencies during the undergraduate period of training. We must also accept that elderly population requires a different approach and the better and long-term approach will be to expose the undergraduate medical students in this domain and prepare them for their future clinical practice. This integration into the existing curriculum has to start with the formulation of geriatric competencies that need to be covered in the undergraduation period followed by curriculum mapping. In conclusion, regardless of the rise in the number of the elderly, the medical education imparted to undergraduate medical students lacks alignment. This calls for the need to expose the medical students to different learning experiences in geriatrics and prepare them to not only meet the specific needs of the elderly but also address the concern of shortage of geriatricians.