In this population, we found significant ethnic variations in choice of health care wishes. Although health care wishes are an individual decision, an awareness of cross cultural patterns can assist practitioners in addressing the concerns of their patients, as well as assisting Health Care Policy Development.

The Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) builds on On Lok's community-based care and financing model for disabled elderly people who are state certified as eligible for nursing home care. Yet PACE's diverse population has not been fully described. We obtained data for a complete cross-section of PACE participants from early 1997 (N = 2,917). Using grade-of-membership analysis, we classified participants on the basis of their specific diseases, impairments, and disabilities. The classification was reviewed by a physician panel to produce clinical profiles, which were then validated against participants' PACE tenure, demographics, supports, and health. Cognitive impairment, incontinence, and activities of daily living disabilities were influential in producing eight types, which correspond predictably to responses in tenure (the more disabled, ill types likely to be in PACE longer), demographics, health, and informal support.

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Most medical schools do not have a separate course in geriatrics, but rather incorporate geriatrics into existing courses. Tracking and assessing curriculum content is more difficult in this setting. This paper describes and compares two approaches to assess curriculum content in geriatrics: a survey of course directors and a course objectives review. The results suggest that course directors report more geriatric content when asked as part of a regular survey than they identify as specific course objectives. Course objectives may be more reflective of the actual emphasis placed on aging-related material in courses. These two approaches appear to be complementary. Medical educators may find both self-report and course objective analysis to be useful and complementary in tracking geriatric material in the undergraduate medical curriculum.

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