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Symposia / European Geriatric Medicine 6S1 (2015) S157
–
S176
The curriculum mainly focuses on teaching and promoting exercise
interventions and physical activity and can be used for different
professionals. The course organisers need to adapt the content and
the level depending on the participants pre-knowledge, the context
in which participants are active and the possibility to implement
the knowledge of the course. The curriculum can be used as a whole
or one can choose to use only parts of it. The length of the course
depends upon the level of details, the participants pre-knowledge,
how much of the curriculum that is being used and the background
of the participants. It can vary from one day up to two weeks. It
can also be used in Bachelor or Master Programs at universities.
The curriculum is divided in two parts: 1) Description of the older
adult and 2) How can we increase physical activity and reduce
sedentary behaviour among this population? The curriculum will
be presented and discussed during the symposium.
3. Motivation and PA; which roads (not) to take
(Erwin Tak):
Despite the abundance of evidence on the positive effects of
physical activity on health and functioning some older adults still
believe that PA is unnecessary or potentially harmful, 45% do not
meet recommended levels and 40–50% drops out of structured
exercises after joining. Motivational aspects play an important
role in this and offer opportunities to improve adherence and
maintenance.
Common determinants and barriers for being physically active,
including social, physical, practical and personal aspects will be
discussed. A special focus will be on social influences which are
thought to be of great importance in older adults such as in-
terpersonal, individual and program characteristics. Finally several
practical recommendations will be addressed that can be targeted
in geriatric practice will be addressed including proving feedback,
quality aspects and individually tailoring of program contents.
Changing physical activity behavior is difficult, but there are things
that can be done to improve physical activity in older adults.
4. Functional approach
(Elisabeth Rydwik): Functioning in terms
of the qualitative and quantitative aspects of behavior and life style
are as unique and personalized as the fingerprints of a person
of each individual person and sustainable behavioral change is
in general hard to establish and if established at its best for
most cases for a limited period of time. Best durable results
of life style and behavior changes in the respect of physical
activity seem to be caused by changing local/regional context in
a combination of infrastructure (relatively fast working procedure)
and culture (relatively slow working procedure) with help of all
relevant stakeholders. Functioning itself can be seen as constant
lifelong purposeful and more or less intended management of
the interrelated dynamics of ones ‘self’ on the one hand and the
environment on the other hand. Physical (in)activity is one of the
most intense behaviors that constitute functioning and contributes
heavily to pertaining one’s health, be it in people with or without
(co)-morbidities. Physical training and activity in the context of
functioning demands knowledge of aforementioned actual insights
as “the intentional body” in the context of the ‘action approach’,
rather than knowledge about substantial body as is nowadays
mostly seen in and used by the ‘motor approach’.
5. Discussion
(Nico van Meeteren – Chair EUNAAPA): Setting the
challenges towards Horizon 2020
Disclosures:
Ellen Freiberger has no conflict of interest. Nico van
Meeteren has no conflict of interest. Erwin Tak has no conflict of
interest. Elisabeth Rydwik has no conflict of interest.
*With the exception of the introduction and discussion all speakers
have been provisionally accorded.
Erwin Tak,(PhD) is a Health Psychologist and employed by TNO
in the Netherlands, with a main interest in behavioral aspects of
physical functioning for people with chronic diseases. Erwin joint
EUNAAPA from the scratch, that is from 2005 on, and nowadays
has the role of secretary of EUNAAPA.
Elisabeth Rydwik, Associate professor, Karolinska Institutet,
Dept of Neurobiology, Caring Sciences and Society, Division
of physiotherapy; Stockholm County Council, Research and
development unit for the elderly, Jakobsberg’s hospital. Her research
interests are in the area of physical activity and exercise as well as
in physical functioning in older people.
S-11
Innovating for a reason: using new educational technologies
to improve learning in geriatric medicine
J. Fisher
1
, A. Gordon
2
, J. Pattinson
3
, P. Brock
4
1
NHS, United Kingdom, Newcastle upon Tyne., United Kingdom;
2
Nottingham, United Kingdom;
3
Health Education East Midlands,
United Kingdom;
4
NHS, United Kingdom, Newcastle upon Tyne, United
Kingdom
Brief introduction to the topic:
It is recognised that teachers who
are excited by new technologies may use them without considering
their impact on learning. Considering ‘pedagogy before technology’
may lead to more rational application of technologies within
proven practices and models of teaching (Beetham & Sharpe, 2007).
Emerging technologies represent a paradigm shift in education
allowing democratisation of information, the generation of online,
global communities and portability resulting from the ubiquity
of personal mobile and wireless devices. These technologies thus
represent an opportunity, but it is crucial that teachers using
them assume both a creative and a critical approach to their
implementation.
Symposium Objectives:
•
Showcase examples of technological innovations being used
globally to teach geriatric medicine
•
Summarise the core educational theories underpinning the use
of technology-enhanced learning in its different forms
•
Highlight the added value that technological innovations offer
•
Acknowledge the barriers that may limit widespread
implementation of innovative teaching
Symposium Overview:
– Using innovative teaching to tackle the big issues facing geriatric
medicine (Adam Gordon)
– Simulation (James Fisher)
– e-Learning (Desmond O’Neill)
– Social Media (Joanne Pattinson)
Introductory Talk: Using innovative teaching to tackle the big
issues facing geriatric medicine
(Adam Gordon): The demographic
imperative means that all doctors need to know about assessment
and management of older patients with frailty. Consensus curricula
for what we need to teach undergraduates about such patients
have been published but are still not taught in many medical
schools (Oakley et al, 2014). At a postgraduate level, there is the
dual challenge of educating non-geriatricians about how to care
for older patients and what to teach as part of higher medical
training in geriatric medicine. Particular challenges are: making
space in overcrowded syllabuses to cover complex topics related to
ageing; addressing doctors’ attitudes and behaviours towards older
patients with frailty and the multidisciplinary teams who support
them; and ensuring consistency of teaching when presentations
in geriatric medicine are variable and evanescent. Innovative
teaching approaches can allow these issues to be tackled by:
taking information-dense didactic teaching outside of the normal
working day to make space for more nuanced issues requiring face-
to-face teaching (e-Learning); providing reproducible experiences
without disadvantaging vulnerable patients (simulation); and
providing students with safe fora within which to explore their
and others’ attitudes and beliefs (social media). These topics
will be considered in turn by educators from around the UK
who have used technology to change how and what their
students learn.