Medical student perspectives on geriatrics and geriatric education.

OBJECTIVE: To ascertain medical students' perspectives on geriatrics. DESIGN: Interpretative phenomenological analysis. SETTING: An allopathic, Liaison Committee on Medical Education-accredited, former Donald W. Reynolds Foundation grant recipient, U.S. medical school. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty fourth-year medical students who completed geriatric educational activities in all 4 years of medical school. MEASUREMENTS: Two researchers independently reviewed verbatim transcripts from five focus groups and identified themes using the constant comparative method. RESULTS: Seventeen themes that elaborate on students' perspectives on geriatrics were identified. Students reported not feeling appropriately engaged in geriatrics, despaired at the futility of care, were depressed by the decline and death of their patients, were frustrated by low reimbursement rates and low prestige despite fellowship training, were concerned about patients' unrealistic expectations and opportunities for litigation, felt unsure how to handle ethical dilemmas, and found communicating with older adults to be enjoyable but time consuming and challenging. They felt they had too much exposure to geriatrics in medical school. CONCLUSION: Current attitude scales fail to capture some of the dimensions uncovered in this study, whereas students did not mention other dimensions commonly included in attitude scales. Regarding curriculum development, students may find an integrated preclinical geriatric curriculum to be more relevant to their careers than a stand-alone curriculum. Clinical clerkships might be in a better position to emphasize the positive aspects of geriatrics and develop strategies to address students' negative attitudes.

Evaluation and management of the elderly patient at risk for postoperative delirium.

Geriatric patients are at a high risk for the development of postoperative delirium. By recognizing predisposing and precipitating risk factors, preventive measures can be undertaken to reduce this risk. Accurate and timely diagnosis is essential, and we offer therapeutic strategies to help reduce the high morbidity and mortality of this important condition.

Evaluation and management of the elderly patient at risk for postoperative delirium.

Geriatric patients are at a high risk for the development of postoperative delirium. By recognizing predisposing and precipitating risk factors, preventive measures can be undertaken to reduce this risk. Accurate and timely diagnosis is essential, and we offer therapeutic strategies to help reduce the high morbidity and mortality of this important condition.

Hyperlipasemia associated with hepatitis C virus.

Extrahepatic manifestations of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection have been well described. However, hyperlipasemia and/or pancreatitis have not been reported. Following the observation that several HCV patients had elevated lipase levels, this retrospective study was conducted to assess the association between hyperlipasemia and/or pancreatitis with hepatitis C infection. Of 204 subjects who underwent evaluation for hepatitis C, 103 had lipase levels determined at baseline. The control group consisted of 41 nonHCV subjects with a variety of gastrointestinal diseases including 18 with nonalcoholic liver disease. Twenty-five percent of HCV patients had elevated lipase at baseline as compared to 10% of controls (P = 0.04; OR = 3.1; 95% CI: 1.02-9.60). Mean lipase levels were 253 +/- 72 units/liter (normal range 114-286 units/liter and 210 +/- 42 units/liter for the HCV and control groups, respectively (P = 0.002). No significant difference in amylase was found between the groups. There was a significant association between ALT (> 1.5 times the upper limit of normal) and lipase (P = 0.02; OR = 3.0; 95% CI: 1.1-7.5). Among 30 patients who received interferon-based therapy +/- ribavirin, 11 had elevated lipase at baseline. Six of these patients responded to therapy and demonstrated normalization of lipase levels. In contrast, all nonresponders with baseline hyperlipasemia continued to have high lipase levels (P = 0.17; OR = 4.0; 95% CI: 0.6-28.4). Furthermore, only 3 of 8 (37.5%) patients with normal lipase responded to treatment as compared to 6 of 10 (60%) of hyperlipasemic patients (P = 0.36; OR = 2.5; 95% CI: 0.4-16.9). In conclusion, hyperlipasemia and/or subclinical pancreatitis may represent extrahepatic manifestations of HCV infection and should not preclude treatment.