Aged-Care Residents: A Resource for Student Clinical Experience

With an increase in the number of medical students and a decline in opportunities to access hospital patients means that alternative methods of providing formative year medical students with a real clinical experience have to be found. The aim of the present study was to examine students’ and elderly aged-care residents’ perceptions regarding aged-care residents being interviewed by medical students and whether residents are willing to be physically examined by supervised medical students. Second-year medical students (N = 187) and aged-care residents (N = 24) completed an anonymous survey regarding their perceptions of the interview. Medical students and aged-care residents generally had favorable perceptions of the interview. The majority of aged-care residents indicated that they would be willing to be physically examined by supervised medical students. These findings suggest that engaging aged-care residents may be a suitable avenue to provide opportunities for students to have clinical experiences during their studies.