Effective teaching methods for geriatric competencies.

This study assesses how effective classroom sessions are at teaching geriatric competencies to medical students. At Stony Brook Medical School, most geriatric competencies are taught in the Ambulatory Care Clerkship during small-group educational sessions. Clinical exposure to reinforce these specialized skills varies with preceptor assignment. A student's ability to perform geriatric assessments was evaluated by scores on an Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) with a geriatric patient. Scores from students who received additional clinical practice of these skills were compared with scores from students who did not. No significant difference in OSCE scores were seen between the two groups.