William McKeown is an ST7 registrar in geriatric medicine who works in the Ulster Hospital, Northern Ireland. Here he reflects on his involvement with the PROGRAMMING (PROmoting GeRiAtric Medicine IN countries where it is still eMerGing) project, which is developing standardised measures of practice and education for geriatric medicine in Europe, and highlights a survey on current educational needs and priorities. The PROGRAMMING project is being run through the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST).
What do healthcare professionals working with older people need to know? The prospect of answering such a question is undoubtedly intimidating, but it is one the PROGRAMMING project is courageously attempting to answer. The population in Europe is rapidly ageing and it is vital that we have healthcare professionals with appropriate skills if we are to develop healthcare services fit to meet this need. Europe is the world’s oldest continent, with 21.1% of its adult population aged over 65 in 2022 and it will reach half a million centenarians by 2050. The practice of geriatric medicine across Europe remains incredibly diverse with recent data from the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS) on geriatric medicine in Europe showing tremendous heterogeneity across the continent. For example, whilst acute geriatric medicine wards, orthogeriatric services and memory clinics are ubiquitous throughout Nordic and Western European nations, they are almost totally absent in many Eastern European countries. If this disparity is to be rectified, then the first step is to ensure that healthcare professionals working with older people have adequate skills and knowledge.
The only way to determine the current skills need is by asking the experts, i.e. healthcare professionals working with older people. Over the past 12 months, the PROGRAMMING project UK working group has earnestly been seeking the voices of UK healthcare professionals providing care for older people, as part of a state-of-the-art mapping and needs assessment. Similar efforts have also been running simultaneously across other European nations. Through surveys, we have been garnering responses from the full spectrum of individuals involved in providing healthcare for older people. This has included physiotherapists, doctors, nurses, researchers, dentists, and final year medical students. Similar surveys are being undertaken in 43 different countries across Europe.
So, to what end is this state-of-the-art needs assessment being conducted? Survey results will be used to identify both global and specific needs regarding the development of geriatric medicine skills and competencies for all healthcare professionals involved in care of older people. Once the need has been determined, international standards and definitions for relevant training can be developed and, ultimately, the lives of older people improved. It is the vision of this project that all older people across Europe will be able to access similar high-quality services meeting their healthcare needs.
You too can have a beneficial role to play in this project. If you are reading this, you are almost certainly a HCP with a valuable insight into current needs within geriatric medicine. Do not keep this wisdom to yourself but please be brave enough to share it with us via the PROGRAMMING survey. As a second act of bravery also feel free to share this with a colleague. The PROGRAMMING survey can be found at https://cost-programming.eu/survey and will only take 10 minutes to complete.