Guidelines for fellowship training in geriatrics. AGS Education Committee. American Geriatrics Society

A Qualitative Study of Independent Home Visits by Hospice Fellows: Addressing Gaps in ACGME Milestones by Fostering Reflection and Self-Assessment

BACKGROUND

With the rapid growth in the number of fellowship programs in Hospice and Palliative Medicine (HPM), many are in the process of developing ways to demonstrate that fellows are attaining educational milestones. Reflection and self-assessment are key components of 2 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) competencies, practice-based learning and improvement, and systems-based practice, which have both been historically challenging to learn and assess.

OBJECTIVE

This article describes results of a content analysis of narrative data collected from HPM fellows' self-assessments as they performed hospice home visits independently in a new clinical rotation.

DESIGN

This was a prospective qualitative study.

SETTINGS/PARTICIPANTS

Eight fellows completed 217 unsupervised hospice home visits from 2014 to 2016.

MEASUREMENTS

Fellows completed weekly self-assessment forms, which captured both clinical visit information and practice data elicited from responses to open-ended reflection prompts.

RESULTS

Analysis of 29 self-assessment forms generated 6 themes: patient- and family-centered care, self-efficacy, systems-based care, commitment to doing their best, catalyst for professional growth, and purpose and meaning in work. The fellows recognized numerous barriers distinct to providing care in homes. All fellows felt prepared to perform home visits throughout the rotation and after training.

CONCLUSIONS

Narrative data collected during the independent home visit rotation provided evidence that HPM fellows detected gaps in their performance, planned for practice improvements in subsequent visits, and valued working within an interprofessional team. Built-in opportunities for fellows to reflect during training are critical in meeting ACGME milestones, and are integral to their professional development.

Is there a geriatrician in the house? Geriatric care approaches in hospitalist programs

BACKGROUND

The rapid growth of the hospitalist movement presents an opportunity to reconsider paradigms of care for hospitalized older patients.

METHODS

To determine the impact of the hospitalist movement on acute care geriatrics, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of the hospitalist community in 2003 and 2004.

RESULTS

We identified innovations in geriatric hospital care in only 11 hospitalist programs. These innovations varied widely in complexity, goals, structure, and staffing. The majority targeted patients using age as a criterion and incorporated geriatrics training for nurses or physicians. Several innovations had one or more of the following features: geriatrician-hospitalists or gerontology nurse-practitioners, perioperative management for complex older patients, specialized geriatric services such as skilled nursing units or acute care for elders units, and quality improvement initiatives targeted to the older patient. A case study of the Hospital Internal Medicine group at the Mayo Clinic is presented as an example of a complex innovation highlighting several of these features.

CONCLUSIONS

The scarcity of geriatric care approaches among hospitalist groups highlights the need for collaboration between hospitalists and geriatricians, with the goals of rethinking staffing models and organization of care and focusing on quality-improvement activities. In particular, perioperative care and postdischarge care are two clinical areas where innovation in hospital care may particularly benefit older patients. Significant opportunities remain for collaboration, coordination, and research to improve the care of acutely ill older patients at the intersection of geriatric and hospital medicine.

Geriatric medical education and training in the United States

Medical education in geriatrics is an important requirement to ready the profession to provide comprehensive health care to the world's and also Taiwan's aging population. The predoctoral curricula and postdoctoral training programs in the United States were developed and supported by government agencies and professional education societies. Geriatric medical education in American medical schools has improved in the past 20 years, yet is still facing many challenges. The purposes of this paper are to review the current progress of, and propose some main principles and policies for the development of geriatric medical education and current progress in the United States. Geriatric medical education should be mandatory to adequately prepare medical students, residents, fellows, and practicing physicians to treat the elderly. The current progress and practice of geriatric medical education at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio are presented as an example.

There Is Hope for the Future: National Survey Results Reveal that Geriatric Medicine Fellows Are Well-Educated in End-of-Life Care

OBJECTIVES

To assess the status of geriatric medicine (GM) fellows' training experiences in end-of-life care via self-report.

DESIGN

Anonymous surveys completed by mail, Web access, and telephone.

SETTING

U.S. accredited GM fellowship training programs.

PARTICIPANTS

Two hundred ninety-six surveys were sent to graduating GM fellows in 1- and 2-year programs across the Unites States.

MEASUREMENTS

Measurements assessed self-reported attitudes, quantity and quality of end-of-life care education, preparation to provide care, and perceived value of caring for dying patients.

RESULTS

Response rate was 74%. Ninety-five percent or more of respondents held positive views about physicians' responsibility and ability to help dying patients. Seventy percent of fellows had completed a rotation focused on end-of-life care. Fellows who had done such rotations rated their end-of-life care education as highly as their overall geriatrics training. Fellows frequently received teaching in many end-of-life care topics, with lower rates of teaching how to say goodbye and responding to requests for assisted suicide. Overall, fellows felt well prepared to care for dying patients. Four factors independently predicted such preparedness: having had a palliative or end-of-life care rotation, being female, having been taught how to say goodbye to patients, and perceiving that it is important to attending physicians that fellows learn to care for dying patients.

CONCLUSION

GM fellows feel their end-of-life care education is excellent and feel prepared to take care of dying patients. It is critical that geriatricians in training have access to and take advantage of palliative and end-of-life care rotations.

Strengthening the Fellowship Training Experience: Findings from a National Survey of Fellowship Trained Geriatricians 1990–1998

Geriatric fellowship training has significantly advanced in the past 2 decades in number, organization, and accreditation of formal fellowship programs. A recent survey examined career decision-making, fellowship training, and current professional activities of fellowship trained geriatricians. This paper focuses upon further desired fellowship training identified by these individuals. The responses reflect skills relevant to four aspects of professional performance: administration, management, clinical geriatrics, research, and education. More than half of the respondents documented the need for increased training in administration, including long-term care medical directorship and Medicare/managed care. Regarding clinical training, 66% recommended additional subspecialty training, particularly in psychiatry, neurology, rehabilitation, and hospice/palliative care. Seventeen percent identified a need for training in research methodology, grant writing, and mentorship. Some 6% indicated a need for further training in education, citing teaching skills and program/faculty development. This article provides examples of opportunities to strengthen each of the four defined areas, including formal training in medical administration by the American Medical Director's Association, model strategies for incorporating subspecialties, hospice/palliative care, programs to pursue graduate level training in research at many universities, and faculty development programs such as those offered by Harvard and Stanford. Accredited geriatric fellowship programs as well as fellows should recognize potential gaps in training, and make available opportunities to strengthen these areas critical to preparing for future careers in geriatric medicine.

Frail older patient care by interdisciplinary teams: a primer for generalists

Frail older patients-unlike younger persons in the health care system or even well elders-require complex care. Most frail older patients have multiple chronic illnesses. Optimum care cannot be achieved by following the paradigm of ongoing traditional health care, which emphasizes disease and cure. Because no one health care professional can possibly have all of the specialized skills required to implement such a model of health care delivery, interdisciplinary team care has evolved. This paper describes the roles of the participating team members in the context of interdisciplinary care for frail older adults. In addition, the challenges that occur when Geriatric Interdisciplinary (ID) Teams involved in providing care to frail older patients are identified and discussed.

The current state of geriatric medicine: a national survey of fellowship-trained geriatricians, 1990 to 1998

The rapid growth of the older population has focused national attention on the need for physicians trained in geriatric medicine. To gain insight into the evolving status of the field, with particular focus on career decision-making and academic career development of trainees, we conducted a survey of physicians recently completing geriatric fellowships. The 107 accredited extant geriatric fellowship programs in the United States and Puerto Rico were contacted to identify trainees from 1990 to 1998. A mailed survey addressed relevant career development and training issues. Four hundred ninety out of 787 (62%) physicians responded; 20% completed 1 year and 80% 2 or more years of training. Half made the decision to pursue a career in geriatrics during residency, 27% decided before/during medical school, and a mentor influenced 48%. Currently, 80% have a Certificate of Added Qualifications in geriatric medicine, 69% hold academic appointments, 78% teach, 39% participate in research, and 44% author publications. Most are doing predominantly clinical work in multiple settings. Further analysis of the 1996-to-1998 cohort revealed that those completing fellowships of 2 or more years are more likely to identify all geriatrics as their professional focus, conduct and author research, work with multidisciplinary teams, and participate in professional geriatric societies. This national survey documents career decision-making and the academic and clinical profiles of physicians completing geriatric fellowship training in the past decade. Longer fellowship training is associated with academic career development. Although there is a national need to train clinical geriatricians, the additional need to train and fund future geriatric academic leaders requires increased attention.