Education in long-term care for family medicine residents: description of an integrated program.

PROBLEM ADDRESSED: Family medicine residents require more exposure to all aspects of care of the elderly in the community, including care in long-term care (LTC) homes. OBJECTIVE OF PROGRAM: To provide a framework for the development of integrated LTC rotations in family medicine programs. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Clear objectives for residents and clinical preceptors provided the foundation for the program. Rotations of 4 half days per year in LTC homes were integrated into core family medicine blocks. Residents worked with family physician preceptors providing LTC in the community. Teaching was case based and aligned with the core competencies set out in the CanMEDS (Canadian Medical Directives for Specialists) framework for medical education. The program was strongly supported by the university's administration, clinical preceptors in the community, and LTC homes. CONCLUSION: All the residents rated their LTC rotations as useful or extremely useful in preparing them to provide LTC in their future practices. Long-term care homes realized that investing in training medical residents in LTC could help improve care of the elderly in the community.