==== Front
Innov Aging
Innov Aging
innovateage
Innovation in Aging
2399-5300 Oxford University Press US 

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.2887
igaa057.2887
Abstracts
Session 7215 (Symposium)
AcademicSubjects/SOC02600
Medical Student’s Perception of Dementia Assessment and Management Among Rural Veterans
Padala Prasad 1 Stovall Jessica 2 Kern Matthew 2 Curtis Jeremy 2 Boozer Eugenia 2 Lensing Shelly 3 Padala Kalpana 2 1 
Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, Little Rock, Arkansas, United States
2 
Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, North Little Rock, Arkansas, United States
3 
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, United States
2020 
16 12 2020 
16 12 2020 
4 Suppl 1 Program Abstracts from The GSA 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting “Turning 75: Why Age Matters”796 797
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.2020This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Abstract
Background: Rural Veterans rely on their caregivers, case managers and primary care providers for dementia management. Providers of such patients need to work closely with caregivers, know the local dementia resources and be comfortable with the multiple facets of dementia assessment and management. Unfortunately, medical students are not particularly well trained in these aspects and huge knowledge gaps exist. The goal was to study the impact of a multi-component, experiential, brief curriculum on attitudes of dementia care. Methods: 108 medical students participated in a curriculum including didactics, clinical, and team-based learning followed by pre-post assessments. Results: Student’s perception of their ability to assess multiple facets of dementia such as behaviors, caregiver burden, and cognition improved significantly (p<0.001). Students’ perception of the role of social worker improved significantly (p=0.002). Conclusion: An interdisciplinary curriculum, improved medical students’ perception of their ability to assess for dementia in a cohort of predominantly rural Veterans.