Attitudes of medical students and family practice residents toward geriatric patients.

The federal government, as well as teaching institutions, are concerned about the current negative attitudes of doctors, medical students, and paramedical personnel toward the elderly. Increased life expectancy at birth and lowered birth rates are changing the demographics of America. As the number of elderly citizens increases, greater demands are being placed on medical educators to train physicians who can meet the "geriatric imperative." The Institute of Medicine has recommended that comprehensive humanistic medical education in geriatrics be integrated throughout the curricula of medical schools. Research is needed to see if change can be implemented in physician training to improve attitudes toward the elderly. Previous attempts to improve medical students' attitudes toward the elderly have met with mixed success. Control groups have seldom been used. It is important to determine whether the effects of medical education extends beyond the immediate boundaries of a training curriculum. This article reports the results of a study on negative attitudes toward the elderly among residents, medical students, and physician's assistant students in the family medicine department at the King/Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.