The Curriculum for the Hospitalized Aging Medical Patient program: a collaborative faculty development program for hospitalists, general internists, and geriatricians.

BACKGROUND: The University of Chicago Curriculum for the Hospitalized Aging Medical Patient (CHAMP) faculty development program (FDP) is targeted at hospitalists and other internists who teach residents and students in the hospital setting. The aim of CHAMP is to increase the quantity and quality of teaching of geriatric medicine pertinent to the inpatient setting.

METHODS: Hospitalist and general internist faculty members who attend on the University of Chicago Medicine teaching service were invited to participate. The CHAMP FDP consisted of twelve 4-hour sessions. Two hours of each session covered inpatient geriatrics content, and 2 hours addressed improving clinical teaching (both general teaching skills and challenges specific to the inpatient wards) and teaching the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education core competencies with geriatrics content. The evaluation included a self-report survey of the impact on the graduates' teaching and clinical practice.

RESULTS: The FDP was piloted in early 2004 with a core group of geriatrics and hospitalist faculty. Three subsequent cohorts totaling 29 hospitalist and general internal medicine faculty members completed the FDP by the fall of 2006. Faculty participants evaluated the program positively, and significant improvements in knowledge, attitudes to geriatrics, and perceived behavior in teaching and practicing geriatrics skills were found.

CONCLUSIONS: The integration of teaching techniques and geriatrics content was enthusiastically accepted by University of Chicago hospitalists and general internists who teach residents and medical students in the inpatient setting. The program has potential for widespread suitability to all teaching faculty who care for the older hospitalized patient.