Viki Johnson may be just 29, but already the second-year medical student has had a taste of what it's like to lose your independence and rely on a nursing home staff to take care of your basic needs. That's because Johnson recently participated in Learning by Living -- an innovative program run by the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine that sends med students who are studying geriatric medicine (or other medical disciplines) to live at nursing homes for 10 days. "That feeling of not being able to decide what I wanted to eat or when I wanted to go to bed or wake up will stick with me for a long time," says Johnson, who spent her 10 days this past May at Highlands Long Term Care Center in Fitchburg, Massachusetts.

Each med student who participates gets "diagnosed" with a condition, and they are treated the way an older resident with that condition would be treated. Johnson's diagnosis was congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and she had to have an oxygen tank attached to her wheelchair and nasal tubes (though they weren't actually hooked up). The staff primarily responsible for Johnson's care knew that she was a med student, as did her roommate -- and she told any fellow resident who asked her. But the vast majority of residents never asked her if she was truly a patient there. "It was quite shocking to me. Most just accepted me into the culture there," she says.

So far, 10 students have gone through the program, says Marilyn Gugliucci, Ph.D., director of geriatric education and research at UNE College of Osteopathic Medicine and creator of the program. Gugliucci got the idea to create the program in 2005 when a student admitted that she didn't really know how to communicate with older people in nursing homes. "I wanted a program where students could learn to look beyond the frailties and connect heart to heart with older adults," Gugliucci says. If students could experience firsthand what it's like to live the life of a nursing home resident, Gugliucci thought, that insight would ultimately make them better doctors. She found a nursing home in Maine that was receptive. Since then, nursing homes in New York, Massachusetts and Ohio have signed on. The nursing homes don't receive any money from the program. In fact, it taxes their staff for the 10 days and winds up costing them money. But they've been eager to participate because they see the value of training better doctors, Gugliucci says. The med students keep daily journals while in the home, and meet with staff afterwards to talk about the experience.

Most of us fear nursing homes, fears which may start as early as childhood when an older relative suddenly gets sick. Adulthood, fear of our own mortality and possible loss of independence does little to allay those fears. UNE med student Kristen Murphy, 38, who spent 10 days in Sarah Neuman Center for Healthcare and Rehabilitation in Mamaroneck, New York, definitely feared nursing homes. In fact, she signed up for the program because she was interested in being a geriatrician, but realized that she was fundamentally uncomfortable with nursing homes. She looked forward to developing better communication with older adults, but was also apprehensive about her stay. "I expected isolation, loneliness, and depression," says Murphy, whose diagnosis was an 85-year-old stroke survivor with weakness on one side. On one level, Murphy was pleasantly surprised. She discovered that there was quite a social scene and quickly made friends. "The people there were incredibly warm," Murphy says. She had wonderful conversations with residents about life, death, love and everything in between.

But on the other hand, walking in the shoes (or wheeling in the chair) of a nursing home resident also gave her insight into how isolating and frustrating it could sometimes be as well as the things that could be different. For example, she suggested that family be more involved in the activities at the nursing home. The center is actually looking into doing this after talking with Murphy about her experience there. Murphy also noticed that when she walked into the nursing home and the elevator doors opened, there was a line of residents in their wheelchairs or in chairs watching the doors, hoping a family member would appear. "I learned that you shouldn't deliberately ignore all the people sitting there when you come in. Visitors tend to drop their eyes because they think residents just want to be left alone. But that's not what they want; they want to be acknowledged -- even with just a wave and a quick hi," Murphy says.

Johnson came away with similar insights. The staff are absolutely dedicated, she says. But it's the little things she noticed right away, like tone of voice in which the staff talked to her (especially since some of them didn't know she wasn't truly ill) and to other residents. "Sometimes, they talked to me like a 5-year-old and didn't expect me to even understand," Johnson says. She just wanted to be talked to as an adult -- as a peer. That's a lesson she certainly won't forget once she begins working in the field.