Attitude of Medical Students in Davangere towards Older People and Willingness to Consider a Career in Geriatric Medicine
Journal Title: National Journal of Research in Community Medicine - Year 2016, Vol 0, Issue 0
Abstract
Background: In light of population ageing in India, the education of tomorrow's medical doctors must include geriatrics care. Training of future physicians in the care of elderly patients needs to evolve in accordance with the exponential increase of elderly patients. WHO strongly advocates awareness for training all future medical doctors in the care of older people Objectives: To measure the medical students attitude towards older people;To know their willingness to consider a career in Geriatric Medicine.(GRM). Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out in S S Institute of medical sciences and research centre for a period of 6 months. 552 medical students from first year to final year participated in the study. University of California, Los angeles UCLA Geriatrics Attitude scale was used to measure the attitude of medical students towards elderly and a question regarding their willingness to consider geriatric medicine as a carrier option was included. Results: The mean UCLA attitude score of the medical students is 3.43 ± 0.37, which suggests that the students have a relatively positive attitude towards elderly (mean UCLA score above 3 is considered as relatively positive attitude). There is a weak correlation between mean attitude scores & willingness to consider geriatric medicine as a career. [R = 0.13, P= 0.002].More than one third (41.7%) are willing to consider Geriatric Medicine as career. The mean attitude scores for males and females are 3.46 ± 0.41 and3.60 ± 0.45 respectively, the difference is found to be statistically significant (P< 0.05). Conclusion: Thoughthe students have positive attitude towards treating elderly, only few are willing to consider geriatricmedicine as a career.
Authors and Affiliations
Santosh A, Aswin Kumar Kumar, Varadaraja Rao BA
Keywords
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