Our goal is to help patients experience the very best possible quality of life while giving them a sense of independence and control over their lives and their deaths. We take a multidisciplinary approach and address patient care across the continuum of settings. We believe that health care practitioners at all stages of their training and career should have exposure to these ideas, whether they specialize in geriatrics and palliative care medicine or another area of medicine.
Geriatrics Training
We believe it is important to expose you, as medical students and residents, to the rewards of caring for older adults as well as the geriatric approach to patient care, even if you are not specializing in the field. This education can improve the quality of care that you provide to older adults and can encourage you to consider the field of geriatrics. Some facets of our program are:
- The annual Medical Student Training in Aging Research program offers an enriching experience in aging research and geriatrics, under geriatrics faculty mentorship, for up to 20 medical students each year.
- Our Geriatrics Student Interest Group is available during your first and second years of medical school if you are drawn to this specialty. We participate in this program, which is administered by the American Federation for Aging Research and the National Institute on Aging. Our faculty facilitates discussion around all aspects of aging including psychosocial issues, productive aging, and molecular biology.
- As a third-year medical student, you participate in a six-week ambulatory care-geriatrics clerkship that integrates geriatrics, adult outpatient medicine, palliative medicine, and home care. You see patients in outpatient, inpatient, home care, and palliative care. Training includes working clinically with social workers, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and chaplains and learning about their roles in interprofessional care.
- You may do an elective rotation in geriatrics in any year of medical school.
- We integrate geriatrics into the pre-clinical doctoring course.
- We offer a dozen noon-time conferences on geriatrics every year.
- We conduct a geriatric clinic weekly as part of the internal medicine residents’ ambulatory practice at The Mount Sinai Hospital as well as a Grand Rounds at the Bronx VA Medical Center.
- We offer an electives, "Residents as Teachers," which use geriatrics content to educate students in pedagogical techniques.
- Internal medicine residents participate in weekly geriatrics assessments clinics to learn how to assess elderly patients who suffer from common geriatric syndromes of dementia, falls, and urinary incontinence. We use a case-based didactic presentation followed by patient consultations precepted by faculty.
- We provide our medical students, residents, and fellows with clinical training through one of the country’s largest medical home visitation programs, the Visiting Doctors program.
- Our Goals of Care Ambulatory Resident Education program is a communication training program for first-year internal medicine residents that uses experiential learning to improve your knowledge and communication skills. We use exercises and case studies dealing with geriatric patients.
Palliative Medicine Education
We are committed to integrating the core precepts of palliative medicine into medical education for all students, through both practice and didactics. In addition to our palliative care interest group, clinical doctoring course, and clerkship, we:
- Require all third-year students to participate in a six-week clinical rotation in palliative medicine during the geriatrics clerkship.
- Provide a one-month clinical palliative care rotation for all hematology-oncology and geriatric fellows.
- Incorporate issues of palliative care into many topics in the medical school curriculum through a sequence called Courses without Walls.
- Offer a two-to-four-week elective rotation on the Palliative Care Consultation Service for fourth-year medical students.
As an Icahn School of Medicine or visiting student interested in a Palliative Care elective, you may submit a rotation request.
Interest Groups
- Geriatrics Medical Students Interest Group: The Geriatrics Student Interest Group is primarily composed of first- and second-year medical students with a special interest in geriatrics. During the academic year, students meet with geriatrics faculty to explore all aspects of aging from psychosocial issues to productive aging to molecular biology to clinical areas, depending on the group's interests. Faculty provides mentoring and discusses career options and geriatrics-related career opportunities.
- Palliative Care Medical Students Interest Group: The Palliative Care Student Interest Group is composed of first and second year medical students with an interest in learning more about the field of palliative care. Activities planned by students and palliative medicine faculty occur both at Mount Sinai Hospital and in the surrounding community. They range from lectures, clinical skills training and shadowing opportunities, to documentary screenings and book readings. Faculty mentors are also available to discuss career planning and opportunities for scholarly activity within the field.