Geriatric Medicine: A Student's Thoughts

Abstract

In this piece, I explore the onset of geriatric medicine and the excitement surrounding the up and coming field in medicine, and contrast the past with the current attitudes of students towards pursuing a career in geriatrics. The trailblazers of geriatric medicine demonstrated an unrelenting passion for their work which is why the field gained traction in the 1900s. These physicians worked to change the negative perception of how older people were viewed in medicine. It was once thought that there was nothing to be done for those experiencing end stages of disease or dealing with the aging process. Due to the efforts trailblazers like Marjory Warren, care for the chronically ill and older people became a fixture in all parts of medicine; however, the idea of working with the geriatric population is not fostering an interest in the current generation of students as it did in the past. Medical students are not gravitating to field of geriatric medicine due to a lack of financial reward, prestige, and ageism. Is it possible to change their perceptions, and if so, what changes in geriatrics need to be made to do so?