VCU receives $1 million to improve health care for geriatric patients

The Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine has received a Next Steps in Physicians' Training in Geriatrics grant totaling nearly $1 million from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation to support programs to train medical students, residents and physicians in geriatrics.

VCU is one of 10 institutions in the country selected to receive a competitive, four-year grant to improve the quality of health care for elderly people across the country by preparing physicians and other health care providers to address the special needs of geriatric patients.

Specifically, the grant awarded to VCU, which VCU will match by half, will support a training program of all VCU medical students, introducing them early in their education to the concept of working effectively in teams with other professional disciplines to care for geriatric patients. This will include web-based training and longitudinal, in-person learning experiences with older persons with chronic health conditions in community living settings.

Medical students will receive training in competencies related to care of older patients throughout medical school. In their senior year, all medical students will complete a capstone practicum using a unique virtual classroom where students will collaborate in small groups with hundreds of students from the VCU Schools of Nursing, Social Work, Pharmacy and Allied Health to solve an evolving case.

"The geriatrics core of education for physicians at VCU has been strong and continues to grow. This grant will launch a broad-based approach to interprofessional education at VCU," said principal investigator Peter A. Boling, M.D., professor and interim division chair of Division of General Internal Medicine and director of long-term care and geriatrics in the VCU School of Medicine's Department of Internal Medicine.

"We hope that once our design has been developed and tested, the web-based platform will be widely available for learners across the U.S. at universities and health systems seeking interprofessional training resources."

Matching funds will be provided by the VCU School of Medicine. The VCU schools of nursing, social work, pharmacy and allied health -- have committed to student and faculty participation, technical support and continuation of the educational program after the grant ends.

In 2001, the VCU School of Medicine received a $1.8 million grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation to support the development of a comprehensive training program in geriatrics.