FROM DOUBLE JEOPARDY TO DOUBLE INDEMNITY: SUBTLETIES OF TEACHING INTERDISCIPLINARY GERIATRICS

Abstract

Each of the fields of geriatrics and interdisciplinary practice intensifies the usefulness and effectiveness of the other. Combining geriatrics and interdisciplinary practice also magnifies the complexity of two singularly complex fields. However, the subtle reasons for their complexity may escape the understanding of clinicians, educators, policy makers, and administrators. Attempting to treat older patients who have complex problems while ignoring common principles of geriatrics and teamwork can cause a kind of double jeopardy. It can potentially harm the patient and decrease the provider's sense of mastery. Training either students or health care providers to appreciate the interactions and the complexities of these two fields could produce a double indemnity for the health care system and for older persons who need health care. It requires recognizing subtle factors like the barrier of presumed knowledge, the interpretation of the meaning of function, frailty, the lure of medical technology, professional hierarchies, diverse views of disease, and the myth of insufficient evidence.