Undergraduate Geriatric Internship Program Overview

Are you an undergraduate who plans on pursuing a career in a health-related field?

If so, then this may be the internship for you!

As an intern, you will work one 4 hour shift per week during the academic year and/or one 8 hour shift during the summer in our Stony Brook Primary Care Center, which is a certified Patient-Centered Medical Home, and located at 205 N. Belle Mead Road in East Setauket.

Interns will be conducting comprehensive screenings and evaluations for the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit using various geriatric assessment tools. Tasks include screening for depression, vision problems, hearing loss, falls risk, home safety, urinary incontinence, weight changes, mobility and cognition. There is close supervision of the interns by physicians, nurses and medical staff in the ambulatory care office. WHY perform these assessments? We want to identify common geriatric problems when they first arise so we can provide treatment early on. Also, the risk score we receive from these assessments allows us to identify which patients should be provided with enhanced geriatric care.

Accepted students will be required to complete the following:

  • Review hospital-required training
  • Pass a test on this information
  • Complete a health assessment which includes a two-step PPD (screening for tuberculosis exposure), determination that vaccinations/immunity are up to date
  • Pass a background check

Orientation includes:

  • Training on the following assessment tools
  • Mini-Cog
  • Mini Mental State Examinations (MMSE) for cognitive screening
  • Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA) for cognitive screening
  • PHQ-2 and PHQ-9 depression screens
  • Snellen Eye Chart vision Assessment
  • Hearing Health Inventory of the Elderly questionnaire
  • Timed Get Up and Go examination for mobility and falls risk
    • Instruction on how to calculate a vulnerable elder score to identify high risk patients
    • Educational Materials to provide to patients with respect to
    • Home Safety
    • Choosing a Health Care Proxy
    • Advanced Directives
    • MOLST forms
    • Extensive training consisting of both lectures and supervised clinical skills sessions