During their training in public health care higher education institutes, future hospital managers carry out several work placements in health care institutes, including one in a geriatric unit. While they often having negative preconceptions of this sector, their experience in the departments, in contact with the patients/residents and the professionals working there, is the opportunity to deconstruct their prejudices and to discover a sector which is dynamic, innovative and very rich in human terms. They thereby become aware of the specificity of the provision of care for the elderly and the need to integrate it into the future strategies of public health institutes. © 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved