INTERPROFESSIONAL EDUCATION: STRATEGIES TO REACH RURAL STUDENTS THROUGH GERIATRIC EDUCATION

Abstract Inter-professional collaboration across disciplines such as primary care medical practice, physician assistants, social workers, and nutritionists does not occur naturally, since educational programs are often taught independently of each other, but these disciplines are required to work collaboratively with each other. The objective was to promote communication across disciplines and help each discipline understand the roles played in promoting mental health and general health for older adults. Three specific strategies to address Interprofessional Education were devised and implemented within a rural context to address the goal of improving collaboration and communication. An educational seminar was conducted using cases and guide questions focused on identifying strategies for care. A second strategy was through “Student hot-spotting” where students worked with a high-need complex case over the course of a school year weekly, as a team-based approach. A third strategy made use of a weekly medical clinic for team-based patient care. The teams consisted of Medical Residents, Social Work students, Physician Assistant students, and nutrition students. Findings suggest professionals were surprised at what they learned from the other disciplines they were collaborating with. They also learned about community-based resources available as well as strategies to promote health outcomes. All participants felt that the opportunity to collaborate outside of their disciplines would strengthen their impact when working with older adults and their families. In conclusion, a problem-based learning approach coupled with the opportunity to collaborate with other disciplines through (IPE) improves overall collaboration among professionals. All strategies had positive learning outcomes.

generation from gerontology programs; demographic shifts away from traditional age college students; and decreasing interest and value of higher education overall.From a pedagogical point of view, this might reflect a return to individual courses and programs ensconced in more traditional disciplinary approaches (e.g., family studies, psychology, and sociology).Pervasive ageism has also been thought to be an underlying societal factor.While none of these factors are easily remedied, understanding their impact is an important first step.GSA programming such as Ageism First Aid and Reframing Aging Initiative are taking the next Herculean step in tackling societal ageism.This presentation focuses on reframing the value of gerontological education to students, employers, and policymakers-moving it from an afterthought to a prioritized strategy for addressing the mounting demand for aging services and service providers.Undergraduate classes on aging have the potential to challenge ageist beliefs and alter students' academic and career trajectories.For the past eight years, we have led an introductory, interdisciplinary class on aging, bringing first-year students and older adults together to discuss various facets of aging and share their perceptions and experiences.Both prior to and after the class, students in the class (n = 494), and a group of their age-matched peers not enrolled in the class (n = 620), completed an online survey measuring attitudes and knowledge about aging and older adults.Repeated measure analyses revealed significant group-by-time interactions across several measures.While students who were not in the class did not show statistically significant changes across measures, students in the class displayed statistically significant increases in knowledge about aging, F(1, 760) = 108.133,ηp2 = 0.125; decreases in aging related anxiety F(1, 766) = 51.947,ηp2 = 0.064; and more favorable expectations about their own aging, F(1, 627) = 45.598,ηp2 = 0.068.Moreover, students in the class endorsed fewer ageist beliefs over time, F(1,768) = 135.313,ηp2 = 0.15, all p's < 0.05.Despite these promising changes, overall intent to engage in an aging-related career did not statistically change across groups, F(1, 113) = 2.948, p > 0.05.Results suggest that exposing students to information about aging in an intergenerational classroom has the potential to mitigate biases against older adults, though challenges remain in maintaining student interest in aging-related careers.

INTERPROFESSIONAL EDUCATION: STRATEGIES TO REACH RURAL STUDENTS THROUGH GERIATRIC EDUCATION Elaine Jurkowski, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Cabondale, Illinois, United States
Inter-professional collaboration across disciplines such as primary care medical practice, physician assistants, social workers, and nutritionists does not occur naturally, since educational programs are often taught independently of each other, but these disciplines are required to work collaboratively with each other.The objective was to promote communication across disciplines and help each discipline understand the roles played in promoting mental health and general health for older adults.Three specific strategies to address Interprofessional Education were devised and implemented within a rural context to address the goal of improving collaboration and communication.An educational seminar was conducted using cases and guide questions focused on identifying strategies for care.A second strategy was through "Student hot-spotting" where students worked with a high-need complex case over the course of a school year weekly, as a team-based approach.A third strategy made use of a weekly medical clinic for team-based patient care.The teams consisted of Medical Residents, Social Work students, Physician Assistant students, and nutrition students.Findings suggest professionals were surprised at what they learned from the other disciplines they were collaborating with.They also learned about community-based resources available as well as strategies to promote health outcomes.All participants felt that the opportunity to collaborate outside of their disciplines would strengthen their impact when working with older adults and their families.In conclusion, a problem-based learning approach coupled with the opportunity to collaborate with other disciplines through (IPE) improves overall collaboration among professionals.All strategies had positive learning outcomes.

MAKING AN IMPACT: AN INTEGRATED MODEL TO REDUCE AGEISM AND SUPPORT PROFESSIONAL IDENTITIES
Amy Powell-Versteeg, Rebekah Perkins, R. Scott Ward, Linda Edelman, and Katherine Supiano, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States Nearly one-million people in the U.S. are living with Parkinson's disease (PD) and require skilled care.Despite this, only 20% of educational programs offer a geriatric rotation.Ageism is a major factor in healthcare students' lack of clinical exposure, decreased self-confidence, and desire to specialize in geriatrics.Research shows positive exposure to older adults improves students' knowledge, attitudes, and interest in this population.Yet, limited geriatric curriculum exists that integrates specialized knowledge combined with positive contact experiences to shape students' professional identities as capable providers.This project combined two experience-based learning (ExBL) models to form the Intrinsically-Motivated learning, Professional identity, Awareness, Capacity, and Timing (IMPACT) modelto support specialized knowledge acquisition and positive, repeated contact experiences with older adults.Third-year Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students who completed both didactic training and a 2-week PD Boot Camp were interviewed about their experiences in the program.Nine students participated in the PD Boot Camp and interviews.Qualitative thematic analysis revealed the following: 1) unexpected insights gained about clients' unique abilities, 2) therapeutic alliances formed and mutually created functional goals, 3) improved decision-making through practice with mentorship, and 4) increased self-confidence to provide care to clients with complex conditions.The IMPACT model provided students specialized knowledge and practical skills to capably care for older adults with PD.This model can serve as a guiding educational framework to reduce ageism among healthcare students across a variety of settings, support students in developing their professional identities, and increase interest in caring for older adults.

MEDICAL STUDENT MOTIVATIONS TO STUDY GERIATRICS AS MEDICAL SPECIALTY IN ECUADOR:
A QUALITATIVE APPROACH Daniela Belen Sosa Cifuentes, and Jonathan Guillemot, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Pichincha, Ecu ador Due to a lack of interest in becoming geriatricians in the medical student community and despite studies showing geriatrics as one of the most fulfilling medical specialties, Ecuador, like many countries globally, lacks geriatricians.Although there are insufficient well-established institutions training geriatricians, the issue essentially lies in the lack of student vocations.We conducted a qualitative and participatory study to identify and describe the motivations and barriers associated with medical students' interests in becoming geriatricians in Quito, Ecuador.Qualitative interviews between medical students after interviewing technique training were conducted.Audio recordings were transcribed and coded, and then analyzed for patterns.Thirty-two students were interviewed, none of which considered geriatrics as their first medical specialty option, and two of which considered the possibility of such a choice, but not as a first option.Among the most significant patterns associated with disinterest in geriatrics was the lack of exposure as well as a general ignorance of the lives of older adults beyond direct relatives.While most participants recognized the fundamental importance of the specialty, barriers appearing unsurmountable emerged: patterns of gerontophobia as well as thanatophobia were strong hurdles, combined with the perception of an emotional toll associated with the care of older adults.This joined with the view that physicians could not be fulfilling their purpose of "saving lives" in the context of geriatrics.As the Global South ages, universities must improve student exposure to older adults and the professions associated with their care as a first step towards promoting new vocations.

NOW SHOWING: THE USE OF FILMS IN ADVANCED GERONTOLOGY COURSES
Jessica VanderWerf 1 , Phyllis Greenberg 2 , and Rona Karasik 3 , 1. University of South Florida,Tampa,Florida,United States,2. St. Cloud State University,St. Cloud,Minnesota,United States,3. Saint Cloud State University,Saint Cloud,Minnesota,United States While the use of films to teach about aging and older adults is not new, current movies and the students who view them are ever-changing.So too are the learning goals and practices for incorporating media into the advanced gerontological classroom.The current undertaking considers the unique aspects of employing movies (including documentaries and international films) and builds on previous works