In view of the serious health problem that population aging represents for Cuba, Dr. Juan Carlos Baster Moro, second degree specialist in Gerontology and Geriatrics, with vast experience in scientific works on this socio-demographic phenomenon, bases his research corresponding to the doctorate program in Education Sciences -at the University of Holguin– on the gerontogeriatric training in students of Medicine.
Dr. Juan Carlos Baster Moro, second degree specialist in Gerontology and Geriatrics. Photo: Courtesy of the interviewee
On this matter, the also President of the Holguin Chapter of Family Medicine shares with Radio Angulo digital some considerations.
How does the study of the aging process currently behave in Holguin?
“Holguin’s population is aged by 22.3 percent. This means that one out of every five Holguineros is 60 years old and over. The implications of demographic aging are transversal to all sectors of society.
“The medical sciences, as a social responsibility, also have the task of training human resources dedicated and specialized in the attention to the different health problems of the population and that such training takes place in accordance with the advances in Pedagogy and Medical Education, in particular”.
Why choose as a doctoral topic the training of human resources to meet the health problems expressed in the elderly?
“From the experience accumulated in research on aging and its different aspects, ranging from sociodemographic studies, the physiological characteristics of the process and its link to health, arises the motivation to further deepen the training of professionals, to ensure adequate and quality care for the elderly.
Geronto-geriatrics – training – medical students – Holguin
As the author of the course “Aging”, from plan D of the Medicine career, which has several publications and participation in events related to the subject, I consider vital the gerontogeriatric training in students of this career.
“This research has as a contribution to the theory the statement of the gerontogeriatric formation method and also works the category of gerontogeriatric formation of the undergraduate student.
“The new thing of the research is that it unveils the gerontogeriatric objectives and contents necessary to the medical student, which are transversal to all the main integrating discipline of the course.
“As evidenced by the external aspect of the method in doctoral research, it becomes a fundamental theoretical contribution and its internal structure, in the functions it fulfills, in the relationships it establishes, in the link it develops between academic activities and the actions carried out by the student of the career in the forms of organization of teaching that prestige Primary Health Care (PHC), such as consultation and home field visit”.
What actions does this research contemplate to provide a solution to the problem posed?
“This method directs actions that are organized in three fundamental directions, which are the design of tasks for the student’s gerontogeriatric training; the execution of these tasks and, of course, their control and evaluation.
“This whole process results in three major impacts. In the first place, the transformation of the object and the field of research, the object is the formative process of the medical student and the field is enunciated in the gerontogeriatric training of that student, in his or her way of feeling, thinking and acting in the process of comprehensive care for the elderly.
“It even has other impacts that go beyond the process itself, with effects on the quality of life of the elderly in the family, the community, the health system and in the social institutions that also provide care to the elderly, such as grandparents’ homes and nursing homes.
“This has an economic impact, from the point of view that there is a rational use and adequate indications of technical aids and these institutions for the elderly”.In the particular case of the medical degree, this training is crucial in response to the needs and health problems of those over 60 years of age.The adequate and quality attention to an increasingly numerous population in Holguín and in Cuba should begin to be conceived from the undergraduate level, because with the increase of life expectancy it is necessary that the health professionals who are in training are prepared to attend the specific needs of this population segment.
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