David Lee: No Clear Cut Definition for Frailty

by AFAR

Over the past two weeks, I have read articles on how to define “frailty” and what criteria researchers use to classify patients as frail.  I have learned that frailty is complex and defined differently based upon the study. One author thinks of frailty as a loss of physiological reserves and uses a five criteria checklist, which includes grip strength, walk time, weight loss, physical activity level, and self-reported exhaustion, whereas another defines the term as a loss of deficits and uses a 70 item index.  Having such a difference in classifying people as frail shows how little…

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Susanna O'Kula: Patient Recruitment at the Bronx VA

by Gwen Cullen

The list didn’t look promising. On this sweltering Friday afternoon, only three or four patients on the floors were eligible for the study, compared to the ten or twelve we can speak to on Mondays after the weekend’s intake. The last week had been slow—only two patients enrolled—and we weren’t exactly sure why. Perhaps it was the season (fewer admissions in the summer) or perhaps it was the (unfounded) belief of many veterans that they could lose their VA benefits if they admitted to using non-VA providers. The social worker,…

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Jerome Atputhasingam: Why We Research at the Memory and Aging Center

by AFAR

Jerome Atputhasingam University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine When I entered the examination room at the UCSF’s Memory and Aging Center (MAC), I was completely unaware of who I would meet inside. Having just started my MSTAR project, I was only beginning to get a grasp of my environment and barely had a clue about the types of patients seen at MAC. On this particular day, I was greeted by an older aged woman and her husband. As I began to introduce myself, I realized that the woman struggled to introduce herself back to me. She…

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Elizabeth Pedowitz: Shadowing & Surveying Visiting Doctors

by AFAR

I am officially a few weeks into my MSTAR project. I am working with the Mount Sinai Visiting Doctors (MSVD) program that provides care to homebound, generally elderly, patients within Manhattan. I had experience with MSVD this past year as part of my Longitudinal Clinical Experience (LCE). The LCE involves following a doctor and his or her patient for two years while learning about the patient’s chronic illnesses, life, and how the two intersect. My LCE patient is in her late 80s and suffers from a complexity of issues including severe scoliosis, breast cancer, advancing dementia, and a…

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John Bridges: An Exciting Time for Geriatrics Research

by Gwen Cullen

John Bridges University of Mississippi Medical Center School of Medicine This week marks the completion of my first month of summer research with the MSTAR program.  I am impressed by the amount that I have learned in the past month, but even more impressive is the amount I have left to learn about how to conduct sound research.  Research is difficult, and it requires concentration and dedication. I have found it interesting how much is yet to be explored in the field of geriatrics. It is an exciting time to be researching in this field, and I have…

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