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As each curricular component is introduced, it should be evaluated for its effectiveness in providing a positive learning experience. This is important, because a bad experience may worsen students' attitudes about aging. After evaluation, some components may need to be restructured or eliminated.

To measure the effectiveness of a course in developing positive attitudes, it may be desirable to give students a pre-test and post-test to survey attitudes. In addition to content exams and other forms of student evaluation, attitude surveys can help the educator to refine elements of the course. Since negative experiences may actually worsen student attitudes, it is important that these elements be recognized and eliminated or restructured.

In general, most medical students' clinical exposure to elderly patients takes place in university hospitals. The elderly usually enter these facilities as the result of a serious condition that requires acute care. They are often severely debilitated. By exposing medical students only to these types of elderly patients, an unrealistic and often negative image of geriatric medicine is developed.

While it is true that older adults visit physicians more frequently than younger adults, these visits are largely for the ongoing treatment of chronic illnesses which, when properly managed, may not seriously inhibit the activity and independence of elderly individuals. Allowing medical students to meet and care for elderly patients in outpatient clinics as well as in the traditional settings helps students to form a more realistic and positive image of treating older people.

Students become aware of the challenges involved in properly managing a variety of chronic illnesses to maintain the highest degree of health and independence. This is an important and frequently under emphasized part of geriatric medical education. A variety of clinical training sites are necessary to expose students to these aspects of caring for elderly patients.

A visit to a nursing home can also be a valuable and positive learning experience. Many students have negative images of nursing homes and their residents. Well planned nursing home rounds with a geriatrician can change these images. Most nursing home residents have some impairment that prohibits them from living independently; however, many residents maintain a great degree of functional ability. Many are in nursing homes because they lack family or other means of assistance that would enable them to live at home. A visit to a nursing home can make students aware of the heterogeneity of nursing home residents and the different types of care they require.

Clinical experiences in a variety of settings also expose students to caring clinicians. This is extremely important since geriatrics involves the attitudes of practitioners toward the elderly. Personal interactions with compassionate caregivers can be highly effective in cultivating positive attitudes among students.