Boston Globe features COM's Learning by Living geriatrics program

The Boston Globe on July 19, 2010 featured the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine's program of immersing medical students interested in geriatrics into nursing homes as residents for two weeks to get a patient's view of geriatric care. The “Learning by Living” project was designed and piloted by Marilyn Gugliucci, Ph.D, UNE College of Osteopathic Medicine director of geriatric education and research, in 2005.  Since that time, more than a dozen medical students have been “admitted” into nursing homes to live the life of an elder nursing home resident for two weeks – 24/7 – complete with a medical diagnosis and standard procedures of care. The Globe story focused on UNE second-year medical student Matthew Sharbaugh, who spent 12 days as a resident of Old Soldiers’ Home in Chelsea, Mass.

“It’s difficult to treat a person when you don’t really have a great handle on how that person feels, what they go through day after day," said Gugliucci, who has been analyzing the students’ journal entries over the past few years. “There is a face and story behind every patient," Sharbaugh wrote in his journal. “The patient should not be viewed by the conditions that ail them, but by the person beneath the disease."  The New York Times featured the program in August 2009.

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The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.