UW trains future doctors to care for elderly patients to meet growing demand



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UW trains future doctors to care for elderly patients to meet growing demand

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MADISON, Wisconsin – As the population ages, experts say there are not enough medical specialists who care for older adults. a study estimating a shortage of nearly 27,000 geriatricians by 2025.

This demand partly explains why the University of Wisconsin's School of Medicine and Public Health is not limited to accounting, but is working with the VA Hospital in Madison to train future doctors to the skills they will need.

"When we provide care for the elderly, we need to think in a nuanced way," said Dr. Steve Barczi, professor of medicine in the geriatrics division.

Real problems call for real solutions and real situations – or at least realistic solutions. Monthly simulations allow medical residents, such as Johanna Poterala, to perform supervised simulations as part of a medical visit.

"It was actually very realistic," said Poterala. "They have done a great job creating rich stories of details that you would be able to reveal in a real-life situation."

Patients are voluntary actors following a vague scenario, but residents and students are as real as possible.

"The reason I want to go oncology, and that's what has brought me to internal medicine, is the ability to create special relationships with these patients," said Poterala.

These patients are getting older.

"There will probably never be enough geriatricians, geriatric psychiatrists and other geriatric providers in the near future to meet the needs of our aging population – in fact, it looks like a geriatrician for 15,000 to 20,000 people. "said Barczi. adding that scarcity affects rural areas the most.

That's why Barczi said that UW is one of the few medical schools to require geriatric training for all internal medicine residents and some medical students.

"We know that the majority of people attending our faculty of medicine and our residency programs will not become geriatricians," he said, "but we believe that they all need to possess these skills basic, that's why we geriatrize "this actual doctor. "

Evidence-based simulations include scenarios for issues related to falls, memory loss and depression, all of which may seem different with age.

"There is a misconception that one can look after the elderly in the same way that one can look after (younger) adults," Barczi said.

Poterala can convey the skills she has and for which she receives feedback in the career of her choice for the treatment of cancer patients.

"You have to know how to handle things other than cancer and its treatment, and the things we see today could certainly be part of a clinic visit for that," she said. . "Being able to know what resources are available for people suffering from these types of diseases and problems, and knowing how you can best help them, is really important."

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