Academics and the nursing home.

Several characteristics of the nursing home justify its new found status as an academic site, including a heterogenous patient population, a rich and varied milieu for teaching, opportunities for faculty development, and more importantly, the nursing home's new found position in the health care continuum. Mandates from a number of professional and accrediting bodies pertaining to primary care training experiences further highlight the nursing home's role in medical education. In addition to education, research in the nursing home has become increasingly recognized and valued. The incorporation of nursing facilities into the academic mainstream will impact positively not only in patient care and age-related clinical investigation but also on the breadth and quality of training for the primary care physician of the future.