Geriatric Scholars Community
Geriatric Scholars Community (GSC), is a virtual learning community, integrating geriatrics into primary care. The GSC facilitates interactive interdisciplinary learning and fosters an environment that allows health care staff to join a community of practice. Learner can access on-demand resources such as archived webinars, videos, comprehensive toolkits for download and a calendar of live webinars, all at no cost. For more information, contact eugenia.dorisca@va.gov or join the Community at www.gerischolars.org.
GRECC Connect VIRTUAL Geriatrics
The Bronx VA GRECC provides consultation via virtual medicine telehealth for complex geriatric cases, and on-going, bi-weekly case-based training. GRECC-based support includes on and off site mentoring for establishing and reinforcing teams, further training and consultation via telephone, CVT, or e-consult by a geriatrician and interdisciplinary team members, and support to VA Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) providers in programmatic implementation of quality improvement programs to improve quality of care for older Veterans. Through this effort, we will equip these rural CBOC PACT teams to manage commonplace geriatric issues more confidently, and facilitate standardized approaches to access GRECC or GEC expertise and consultation more effectively for more complicated cases. Furthermore, the project may improve non-institutional performance measures, provider knowledge, confidence, and satisfaction, and reduce rate of extended care admissions. For more information please contact Shatice Jones at shatice.jones@va.gov or, visit the webpage www.Gerischolars.org/GRECC Connect VIRTUAL Geriatrics.
Interprofessional Palliative Care Fellowship Program
A national network of six interprofessional palliative care fellowship programs was funded in 2002 by the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide the best possible care for the nation’s Veterans by transforming the care of the seriously ill. The James J. Peters VA Medical Center VISN 2 GRECC Program hosts one of these fellowship programs and has graduated 65 fellows from social work, psychology, medicine, pharmacy and nursing. For more information, contact valerie.menocal@va.gov.
Rural Interdisciplinary Team Training Program
The Rural Interdisciplinary Team Training (RITT) Program is sponsored by the VA Geriatric Scholars Program. It is a manualized, on-site training that aims to strengthen inter-professional teams at rural VA Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOC). Objectives are to increase geriatrics team-based expertise; provide primary care providers education and training in common geriatric conditions; and incorporate team-based geriatrics knowledge and skills into CBOC providers’ practice. The training meets a demand for enhanced geriatric knowledge and skills in the rural primary care setting. Furthermore, the benefits of inter-professional teamwork in a primary care setting are numerous: improved patient care, decreased duplication of services, potential reduction of costs, more efficient patient transitions between sites of care, reduction in medication errors, promotion of creative solutions to complex problems, enhanced involvement of caregivers, and the distribution of workload in overburdened practices. Accredited by the VA Employee Education Service (EES) for 6.5 hours or 3.75 hours, are co-facilitated by a clinician and an educator, combines didactic and interactive learning styles. Participants are provided with educational and clinical resources such as pocket cards, articles, interactive booklets, and DVDs. For more information about RITT, please visit the website www.Gerischolars.org/RITT.
- Due to COVID-19, the live in person workshop was successfully transferred to a virtual training. It continues to be accredited by EES for 3.75 hours of CME/CEU
- We developed a caregiver support program led by a Dementia Care Coordinator, a licensed clinical social worker, as an expansion of the Rural Interdisciplinary Team Training Program. The coordinator provides counseling, support and education for caregivers of rural Veterans with dementia. Referred caregivers receive 4 to 5 individual sessions which includes assessment, help in problem solving and instruction in stress reduction. For more information, contact Nicholas.koufacos@va.gov.
- The RITT program rolled out its CLC four module training to front line staff with trainings scheduled in January 2021; however, due to the pandemic face-to-face activities were cancelled. For more information, or to schedule a workshop, contact Eve.Gottesman@va.gov.