2 years ago
(NEWS CENTER) -- In the year 2020, people 65 and older will be the largest segment of the population in the U.S. In Maine, that percentage will be even higher, as the state's population continues to age. With that in mind, students and faculty at the University of New England Medical School are taking part in a program that allows students to gain experience dealing with older patients. Melissa Anderson has gotten to know Gwenythe Snackey well in their monthly morning meetings. A first year physician's assistant student, Anderson is taking part in UNE's Interdisciplinary Geriatric Education program, which offers med students clinical experience working with elderly patients. Melissa Anderson said,
Anderson runs a battery of tests while they talk about medical issues Snackey has been experiencing.
Gwenythe Snackey, a patient, said, "S
he kind of makes me more aware of the different problems and gives me different input into it and it is more like personal one on one, it is easier to talk to her than to my doctor."It is this one on one interaction in the patient's home setting that provides deeper insight for the students as to how their patient's medical condition affects their daily life.
Carl Toney, an assistant proffessor at UNE, commented, "I
f you don't know the person you can't help the patient. So, we are really trying to get students to move beyond the stranger to stranger interaction and to engage so that your patient or your client is also a friend."One of the unique aspects of this program is that students from different healthcare professions are able to collaborate with one another as they make their rounds.
First, students in the physician's assistant program meet with physical and occupation therapy students, dental students and faculty to go over their goals for the day.Anderson remarked, "I
got to see a PT come in and do stuff for the diabetic part of it with the feet and that kind of thing, and a dental extern has come in and did denture work on her and really checked out things that I really wouldn't have realized had I not had this experience."
For the patients, it's a chance to have very personalized care in a comfortable, familiar setting. But the benefits go far beyond that.
Snackey commented, "S
he has helped me to care enough to make my life better and that I am worth -- and not just old and my body is falling apart, there are things you can do to make it better."With each visit, these students are learning there is more to medicine than charts and check-ups. Lessons that will serve them well, as they take care of an aging population.
The program is run in five different independent living centers in the Portland area in the Fall. Students then move on to work in assisted living and nursing homes in the Spring.
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