Integrating Geriatrics into Medical School Through Problem-Based Learning

Many medical school faculty are now recognising the need for students to learn more geriatric content; yet, they may hesitate to add geriatrics because their general faculty has limited expertise in geriatrics, few geriatricians, and most geriatricians are already over-committed. Problem-based learning is one possible solution without adding new faculty, nor requiring much extra teaching time. This article summarizes the educational and psychological principles supporting problem-based learning in medical education, and describes how geriatrics has been incorporated into a problem-based medical curriculum at McMaster University. Aging issues are introduced throughout the program including a three week block focusing on the health care needs of the elderly. Some of the problems and the benefits encountered in the development of he curriculum are discussed.