Providing healthcare to older adults is often extremely challenging. Patients often have multiple long-term conditions, and present to healthcare in atypical ways. Doctors need to be highly competent communicators with knowledge of medical ethics, social care and palliative medicine.
Between 2012 and 2017, the BGS has, as part of the annual Trainees' Weekend, set a mock SCE session in order to support BGS trainees who were preparing to sit the RCP SCE exam. Here we publish the mock questions and answers for each year's session.
When taking time out of programme (or OOP), it's important to maintain clinical skills and knowledge when medical practice is constantly evolving.
If you're thinking of doing research but are put off by taking a lengthy break from work or studies, consider doing research part time alongside your clinical job. We examine the pros and cons.
Here you can find links to our new frailty e-learning module and other useful training materials.
FAQs for doctors in training regarding COVID-19 disruption to their progression.
The Older Person Whisperer's take on coping and responsibility when looking after a person with Parkinson's Disease
Focus on Physicians 2017-18 is the Royal College of Physicians, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow’s most recent census on the consultant physician and higher specialty trainee workforce in the UK.
Pressure ulcers cause immense suffering and considerable increases in length of stay. An understanding of the causes of pressure ulceration is fundamental to prevention of occurrence.
This curriculum is based on the specialty training curriculum for geriatric medicine, formulated in August 2010 (amended in 2016).
The JRCPTB published the curriculum for specialist trainees in geriatric medicine in 2010. In 2016, it published an amended edition. Trainees are be required to learn to manage the whole range of medical conditions at a generalist level for adults of all ages.
The Older Person Whisperer's series of comic presentations on the life of a geriatrician
Joint activities such as art, sewing, knitting, cooking or growing plants help relationships grow between the generations.
This Practice Question has been published with the kind permission of the Royal College of Nursing.
Medical Education Terminology relating to the education of specialist trainees, catalogued by the Vice President for Education of the British Geriatrics Society
The ageing population in the UK and increasing pressures on acute hospitals has shifted the balance of care to the community and providing care closer to home. This has led to closer joint working across primary and secondary care, with social care and the third sector.
Physicians practising in general internal medicine (GIM) commonly manage illness in patients who may be in the last phase of their lives. It is therefore an important part of the specialist training programme to manage patient and family involvement.
Based on the specialty training curriculum for geriatric medicine, reference is made to the guidelines for collaboration between physicians of geriatric medicine and psychiatrists of old age.
In a pioneering step, Wales has developed a comprehensive core curriculum of competencies for intermediate care for SpRs in geriatric medicine. While designed for SpRs in Wales, the curriculum has UK-wide relevance.
Congratulations to Dr Richard Dodds and Dr Melanie Dani - the winners of the BGS EAMA awards in 2018.
HIV/AIDS taught us the importance of public sex education. Now, COVID-19 teaches us the need for public death education.
I can feel an approaching pandemic in use of the word failure. It started with failure to plan, failure to supply PPE and economic failure. There is talk of failure to support frail older people and other vulnerable groups.
Do put October 11-13th in your calendar now for 2021 in Athens. As a result, the Congresses in London 2021 and Helsinki 2022 have each now moved one year onwards. However, this year’s dates, October 7-9th 2020, will be put to good use as we are providing: COVID-19 in Europe: A Virtual Congress.
The COVID-19 outbreak has meant a change for everyone’s working patterns and rapidly. In my case, due to an underlying medical condition, this has meant remote working.
They say if you want to know what’s going on you should ‘follow the money’. By joining this committee, you will soon learn how costly conferences are to run and how much IT support really costs.
Sarcopenia is a hot topic in research and clinical practice for anyone caring for older people. It is common, and is associated with multiple adverse outcomes that we all see in everyday practice including falls, fractures, prolonged hospitalization, loss of independence and earlier death.
I love being a doctor and hospitals have long been something of a comfort zone; predictable, with protocols, and plans, and SOPs. To me, they often feel more controlled than the unpredictable world outside.
Demographic changes associated with increased longevity, care requirements and growing multi-morbidity make a strong case for the specialty of Geriatric Medicine. Currently more than 70% of the European Union member states already recognise and commit to Geriatric Medicine as a specialty. However, there are considerable differences in the way the specialty is practiced across Europe.
Autumnal scenes and sunshine welcomed delegates to the 66th Irish Gerontological Society’s (IGS) Annual Scientific Meeting at the beautiful - if labyrinthine - Slieve Russell Hotel and County Club in County Cavan in late September 2018.
The past decade has seen a proliferation of textbooks in geriatric medicine – definitely a good thing for the specialty and our patients. But in this competitive space it has become more challenging to find a single book to recommend to non-specialty trainees or medical students!
Taking a step off the conveyer belt of medical training can be a daunting move for trainees, who have become accustomed to the continued encouragement for career progression. It’s a choice that is not actively encouraged, but does allow(s) space to refocus through dedicated time doing a different kind of work.
As junior consultants, leadership skills are essential, in addition to clinical skills, in order to set up and run the kind of collaborative teams and services that consultants are asked to lead, and enable them to thrive.
An FY2 taster week can have a multitude of meanings. For some, it offers a reprieve from their mundane day job, almost as desirable as annual leave. For others, it is an opportunity to try a specialty that piqued their interest as a student. Fran Kirkham reflects on her own experience.
The BGS Autumn Meeting will cover the latest in evidence and best practice in the health and care of older people.
A 2 day residential course for senior registrars focusing on management & leadership issues that affect health services for older people.
Geriatrics for Juniors 2018 is here! A day of practical tips & career advice for junior docs, specialist nurses & AHPs around the care of older people. November 24th in London.
Covering core topics:SIG sessions on Stroke, Movement Disorders, Falls
This annual meeting aims to identify and address key training and learning points within the speciality. Sessions include: Developing management skills, Older people in the emergency department, Quality Improvement surgery, Neurosurgery, Nutrition in old age.