Education, Training and Careers

We’ve always loved working with older people. Our roles in general practice certainly facilitate this!  When we were offered the opportunity to study at Masters Level in Medical Science: Frailty and Integrated Care, we jumped at the chance.  

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.

Zosia Beckett, a CMT2 in the West Yorkshire Region, and a representative on the BGS Trainees Council, runs through the application process for the geriatric medicine training programme.

Much has been written about the need for healthcare systems to adapt to meet the growing demands associated with demographic changes and an ageing population worldwide. For this to truly happen, we need a culture change, says Diarmuid O’Shea, Consultant Geriatrician at St Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin.

In 2013 Professor David Oliver wrote a blog, the Geriatrics 'Profanisaurus', a list of words and phrases that should, he thought, be banned.  Now Dan Thomas adds some frequently encountered diagnoses that should be approached with scepticism.

Delirium has, technically, been around for centuries. But many working in healthcare till do not know about it. Or if they do, they refer to it by every other name except delirium. With an incidence of around 20 per cent, ignorance is no longer acceptable. There is a pressing need to do something that goes beyond merely raising awareness.

The Association for Elderly Medicine Education (AEME) is an organisation set up by trainee geriatricians in 2012, to provide educational tools and experiences in elderly medicine. The aim was also to attract more trainees into the specialty. Nick Saxton describes the organisation's work.

Registrars Emily Bowen, Judy Martin and Marissa Minns explain how the Royal College of Physicians Chief Registrar programme sets out to equip a new cohort of clinicians with the skills and experience they need take on roles in clinical leadership and management.

Although geriatric rehabilitation in most countries is considered to belong to the core tasks of geriatricians, there is no consensus about definition and target groups of patients.