A nontraditional geriatric teaching model: interprofessional service/education sites.

Recognizing the consistent increase in the numbers of Americans age 65 and over, medical educators must prepare their students to provide quality health care to the geriatric population in order to meet future medical needs adequately. The University of Maryland School of Medicine, in cooperation with the five other campus professional schools, is striving to meet this challenge with a comprehensive, interdisciplinary geriatric training program for students entering the health care professions. The curriculum model includes discipline-specific and interdisciplinary basic minimum competencies for providing satisfactory geriatric care associated with a variety of curriculum processes designed to assure students' realization of these competencies. The educational process as presented is offered as a potential operational model for medical educators interested in the development of geriatric curriculum design.