Dr. Atul Gawande, a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and associate professor at Harvard School of Public Health, told the New York Times in 2009 that: “There’s been a drastic decline in the number of geriatricians — and just 300 new ones are being trained each year — yet the number of people over 65 will double in the next 20 years.” Unfortunately, 3 years later, the numbers have not budged. Physicians who specialize in treating older adults - a challenging field where doctors treat patients who have multiple, complex issues - are becoming scarce.
Educators must therefore strive to develop effective and efficient strategies to improve medical trainees’ Geriatrics education. Aging Q3, an innovative educational and practice-based program from the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), incorporates the Assessing Care of Vulnerable Elders (ACOVE) paradigm and, quite uniquely, the principles of educational outreach or academic detailing. The three Qs signify: Quality of Education, Quality of Care, Quality of Life. It is designed to improve internal medicine residents’ clinical competencies in Geriatrics and improve the quality of care and quality of life for older adults. The program uses content development to improve the quality of geriatrics education, demonstration of appropriate clinical skills required for caring for older adults, and the application of that knowledge and skill during patient care activities.
Aging Q3 is developing curricula on 16 different topics for teaching residents to provide quality care to elderly patients. The program uses a sequence of interventions where residents learn and experience the practice of clinical Geriatrics with limited interruption to the process of patient care. As such, the Aging Q3 program emphasizes learning during clinical rotations rather than through lectures. Each ACOVE indicator, or area, is featured for 3 months. ACOVE areas in the schedule since 2009 include: Vision, Falls and Mobility, Dementia, Medication Use and Safety, Screening/Prevention, Hospital Care/Prevention, End of Life Care, Osteoporosis, Pain Management, Pressure Ulcers/Malnutrition, Osteoarthritis, Depression, Urinary Incontinence, Hearing Loss and Continuity of Care. The POGOe Product Information page provides the URL to access the full Aging Q3 website: http://mcintranet.musc.edu/agingq3/hospitalcareaco.... When you reach the site, the navigation panel on the left gives access to the content areas. The home page shows the Aging Q3 ACOVE area currently being featured in the curriculum, useful clinical tools, an introductory video to the Aging Q3 Program, and a direct link to POGOe.
The product being highlighted in this Editor’s Choice is the Hospital Care & Transitions Aging Q3 ACOVE Area. This product is by Dr. Neal Axon and Dr. William Moran. This product provides a simple, innovative and useful way to get learners used to providing properly detailed discharge summaries. Some of the materials provided for the faculty and residents include a detailing handout for educators, a one-pager that emphasizes important points for the faculty to raise during resident teaching. There are different outpatient and inpatient detailing sheets that highlight differences in approach when seeing the discharged patient in these clinical settings. An editable poster can be displayed strategically in resident areas of the hospital and clinic; a pocket card designed to be printed back-to-back describes the salient features of the ACOVE area for quick access of this information, Blue Sheets that "cue" residents to address the featured issue with older adult patients contain a few brief questions on the ACOVE area that a nurse may have discussed with the patient during intake, and a References list links to an Article Linker on the MUSC website – although it would have been better if it linked to PubMed so non-MUSC users can get journal access through their own institutional log-in*. Some ACOVE areas may also have Patient Education Materials, Local Provider Contact List, and an ACOVE Video Summary.
Given the differences in residents’ schedules and learning styles, the Hospital Care & Transitions working group developed a multipronged educational approach because one intervention cannot reach all residents. This appears to be a consistent theme throughout all of the Aging Q3 ACOVE areas.
Overall, this is an exciting product that covers knowledge and skills that medical trainees need to care for vulnerable adults. The program’s overall goals, concept and implementation strategies are outlined in the recent journal of Academic Medicine (Vol. 87, No. 5 / May 2012). If you are interested in this product access POGOe now or go to the MUSC website!
*Update: MUSC has changed the references list so that the links go directly to PubMed.
Educators must therefore strive to develop effective and efficient strategies to improve medical trainees’ Geriatrics education. Aging Q3, an innovative educational and practice-based program from the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), incorporates the Assessing Care of Vulnerable Elders (ACOVE) paradigm and, quite uniquely, the principles of educational outreach or academic detailing. The three Qs signify: Quality of Education, Quality of Care, Quality of Life. It is designed to improve internal medicine residents’ clinical competencies in Geriatrics and improve the quality of care and quality of life for older adults. The program uses content development to improve the quality of geriatrics education, demonstration of appropriate clinical skills required for caring for older adults, and the application of that knowledge and skill during patient care activities.
Aging Q3 is developing curricula on 16 different topics for teaching residents to provide quality care to elderly patients. The program uses a sequence of interventions where residents learn and experience the practice of clinical Geriatrics with limited interruption to the process of patient care. As such, the Aging Q3 program emphasizes learning during clinical rotations rather than through lectures. Each ACOVE indicator, or area, is featured for 3 months. ACOVE areas in the schedule since 2009 include: Vision, Falls and Mobility, Dementia, Medication Use and Safety, Screening/Prevention, Hospital Care/Prevention, End of Life Care, Osteoporosis, Pain Management, Pressure Ulcers/Malnutrition, Osteoarthritis, Depression, Urinary Incontinence, Hearing Loss and Continuity of Care. The POGOe Product Information page provides the URL to access the full Aging Q3 website: http://mcintranet.musc.edu/agingq3/hospitalcareaco.... When you reach the site, the navigation panel on the left gives access to the content areas. The home page shows the Aging Q3 ACOVE area currently being featured in the curriculum, useful clinical tools, an introductory video to the Aging Q3 Program, and a direct link to POGOe.
The product being highlighted in this Editor’s Choice is the Hospital Care & Transitions Aging Q3 ACOVE Area. This product is by Dr. Neal Axon and Dr. William Moran. This product provides a simple, innovative and useful way to get learners used to providing properly detailed discharge summaries. Some of the materials provided for the faculty and residents include a detailing handout for educators, a one-pager that emphasizes important points for the faculty to raise during resident teaching. There are different outpatient and inpatient detailing sheets that highlight differences in approach when seeing the discharged patient in these clinical settings. An editable poster can be displayed strategically in resident areas of the hospital and clinic; a pocket card designed to be printed back-to-back describes the salient features of the ACOVE area for quick access of this information, Blue Sheets that "cue" residents to address the featured issue with older adult patients contain a few brief questions on the ACOVE area that a nurse may have discussed with the patient during intake, and a References list links to an Article Linker on the MUSC website – although it would have been better if it linked to PubMed so non-MUSC users can get journal access through their own institutional log-in*. Some ACOVE areas may also have Patient Education Materials, Local Provider Contact List, and an ACOVE Video Summary.
Given the differences in residents’ schedules and learning styles, the Hospital Care & Transitions working group developed a multipronged educational approach because one intervention cannot reach all residents. This appears to be a consistent theme throughout all of the Aging Q3 ACOVE areas.
Overall, this is an exciting product that covers knowledge and skills that medical trainees need to care for vulnerable adults. The program’s overall goals, concept and implementation strategies are outlined in the recent journal of Academic Medicine (Vol. 87, No. 5 / May 2012). If you are interested in this product access POGOe now or go to the MUSC website!
*Update: MUSC has changed the references list so that the links go directly to PubMed.