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Perspectives and experiences of the first geriatricians trained in Canada

Many Canadian-trained geriatricians from the subspecialty’s first decade of existence continue to practice today. The objective of this study was to examine the experiences and perspectives of the earliest cohort of geriatricians in Canada. Using qualitative description method, we conducted semi-str...

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Autores principales: Wong, Eric Kai-Chung, Day, Alexander, Zorzitto, Maria, Sale, Joanna E. M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10325037/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37410719
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287857
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author Wong, Eric Kai-Chung
Day, Alexander
Zorzitto, Maria
Sale, Joanna E. M.
author_facet Wong, Eric Kai-Chung
Day, Alexander
Zorzitto, Maria
Sale, Joanna E. M.
author_sort Wong, Eric Kai-Chung
collection PubMed
description Many Canadian-trained geriatricians from the subspecialty’s first decade of existence continue to practice today. The objective of this study was to examine the experiences and perspectives of the earliest cohort of geriatricians in Canada. Using qualitative description method, we conducted semi-structured interviews to explore participants’ experiences in training and practice. We included geriatricians who trained in Canada between 1980–1989 and were in active clinical practice as of October 2021. Each transcript was coded independently by two investigators. Thematic analysis was used to develop key themes. Fourteen participants (43% female, mean years in practice 35.9) described their choice to enter geriatric medicine, their training process, the roles of a geriatrician, challenges facing the profession and advice for trainees. Two themes were developed from the data: (i) advocacy for the older adult and (ii) geriatrics as “the road less taken”. Advocacy was described as the “core mission” of a geriatrician. Participants discussed the importance of advocacy in clinical practice, education, research and disseminating geriatric principles in the health system and society. “The road less taken” reflected the challenges participants faced during training, which led to relatively few geriatricians for the growing number of older adults in Canada. Despite these challenges, participants described rewarding careers and encouraged trainees to consider the profession.
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spelling pubmed-103250372023-07-07 Perspectives and experiences of the first geriatricians trained in Canada Wong, Eric Kai-Chung Day, Alexander Zorzitto, Maria Sale, Joanna E. M. PLoS One Research Article Many Canadian-trained geriatricians from the subspecialty’s first decade of existence continue to practice today. The objective of this study was to examine the experiences and perspectives of the earliest cohort of geriatricians in Canada. Using qualitative description method, we conducted semi-structured interviews to explore participants’ experiences in training and practice. We included geriatricians who trained in Canada between 1980–1989 and were in active clinical practice as of October 2021. Each transcript was coded independently by two investigators. Thematic analysis was used to develop key themes. Fourteen participants (43% female, mean years in practice 35.9) described their choice to enter geriatric medicine, their training process, the roles of a geriatrician, challenges facing the profession and advice for trainees. Two themes were developed from the data: (i) advocacy for the older adult and (ii) geriatrics as “the road less taken”. Advocacy was described as the “core mission” of a geriatrician. Participants discussed the importance of advocacy in clinical practice, education, research and disseminating geriatric principles in the health system and society. “The road less taken” reflected the challenges participants faced during training, which led to relatively few geriatricians for the growing number of older adults in Canada. Despite these challenges, participants described rewarding careers and encouraged trainees to consider the profession. Public Library of Science 2023-07-06 /pmc/articles/PMC10325037/ /pubmed/37410719 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287857 Text en © 2023 Wong et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Wong, Eric Kai-Chung
Day, Alexander
Zorzitto, Maria
Sale, Joanna E. M.
Perspectives and experiences of the first geriatricians trained in Canada
title Perspectives and experiences of the first geriatricians trained in Canada
title_full Perspectives and experiences of the first geriatricians trained in Canada
title_fullStr Perspectives and experiences of the first geriatricians trained in Canada
title_full_unstemmed Perspectives and experiences of the first geriatricians trained in Canada
title_short Perspectives and experiences of the first geriatricians trained in Canada
title_sort perspectives and experiences of the first geriatricians trained in canada
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10325037/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37410719
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287857
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