Gerontology (260)
Course Director: Samuel J. Spadone, D.P.M., Instructor
Week: 1
Hr/Wk Lecture Hours = 10; Course Credit:1
DEFINITION OF COURSE
The course will provide a basic understanding of the health and social needs of the older patient; special needs as they relate to the aging process; the geriatric patient and those patients with chronic diseases; and their relationship to foot health, podiatric care and the relationship to health care delivery, preventive services and other related considerations.
OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE
- To understand that gerontology and geriatrics are special bodies of knowledge and need special approaches.
- To know that the practitioner in geriatrics serves as a teacher, a researcher, a consultant, a health planner, and both a primary and secondary care practitioner.
- To understand the historical importance of gerontology and geriatrics in relation to changes in society.
- To have an understanding of the demographic and epidemiological patterns of the elderly.
- To separate as well as integrate the effects of aging in disease.
- To recognize and realize the importance of the team approach in the clinical and related care of the older patient and in those patients with chronic diseases.
- To explore the ethical issues that frequently occur in the care of the elderly.
- To understand normal aging, clinically and socially.
- To understand the components, goals and relationships of the health care team in the management of the aging patient, as well as those Patients with debilitating diseases.
- To recognize and know when to seek special consultation in the care of the geriatric patient; and the rendering of such care to an individual and/or to a community.
- To be able to distinguish changes due to aging from those that reflect disease and to integrate those changes into a clinical care pattern.
- To understand and identify the special care needs in relation to the podiatric care of the geriatric patient.
- To understand death and dying, through religious and cultural aspects, grief, bereavement and personal perspectives.
- To gain an understanding of the diseases and conditions associated with aging, their podiatric implications, the impact of those implications, and relationships to the community and society.
- To recognize the importance of prevention and health promotion on the quality of life and the older patient.
- To identify and understand the political issues involved in aging the funding for patient care.
PURPOSE OF THE COURSE IN THE CURRICULUM The purpose of the program in gerontology/geriatrics will be to provide a basic understanding of geriatric care for the student and to permit the student to relate all of the clinical courses and programs at the Temple University School of Podiatric Medicine, to the special needs of the older patient.