Medical students' perceptions of the importance of exercise and their perceived competence in prescribing exercise to older people.

Objective: To determine the effects of a 4.5-week geriatric medicine course on fifth year medical students' perception of the importance of and their competence in prescribing exercise to older people.

Methods: The modified Exercise and Physical Activity Competence Questionnaire was administered to 81 students before and after the course. Scores ranged from 0 to 6. One open-ended question about perceived barriers to exercise prescription was asked.

Results: Students' perceptions of the importance of designing an exercise prescription (P = 0.038), determining the training heart rate (P = 0.021), determining the body mass index (P > 0.001), referring an older person to an exercise program (P > 0.001) and identifying age-related limitations (P = 0.029) improved significantly after the course. Students' self-perceived competence improved significantly across all items (P > 0.001). Barriers to exercise prescription included lack of: knowledge (57%), patient compliance (39%) and time (33%).

Conclusions: A geriatric medicine course contributes to improved senior medical students' perceptions of importance of and their competence in prescribing exercise to older people.