Virtually Transformative Experiences in Geriatric Education: Lessons Pre and Post Pandemic

Georgetown University medical students have the option of selecting a two-week rotation in Geriatrics during their third-year. Since Fall 2019, the curriculum has included three immersive virtual reality (VR) labs: hearing & vision loss, Alzheimer’s disease, and end-of-life conversations created by Embodied Labs. The curricular goals include increasing empathy and sensitivity of learners to the perspective of older adults, decreasing ageism & stereotyping, and increasing clinical knowledge. In each lab, students are immersed in a live film, first-person point of view of an older adult. They interact with the immersive environment via gaze, voice, and natural hand motions. Pre-pandemic, students viewed the labs in-person using a commercial VR headset. Since the pandemic, March 2020, students accessed the VR labs through the virtual modality of Zoom. This abstract summarizes data on knowledge and attitudes examining differences in knowledge and attitudes pre and post-pandemic.

Reflection Leading to Action on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Virginia GWEP

Last year’s Black Lives Matter protests inspired the Virginia Geriatric Education Center (VGEC) GWEP’s plenary to engage in reflection and discussion on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in our work together. During each bi-monthly meeting, we dedicate time to generate ideas to improve our programming, how we work together, and how we partner and recruit for our programs. Champions for DEI on our plenary led an effort to develop a DEI newsletter clarifying DEI concepts and introducing resources thematically related to the monthly VGEC faculty development program curriculum. By incorporating these resources into our monthly curriculum, facilitators have a new access point to incorporate content on health equity and policy into our curriculum. The intentional focus on DEI is opening the door to deeper reflection and conversation with a goal of improving all our programming, cultivating a new social awareness, and bringing new voices and perspectives to the table.

Virtual Transitions and Opportunities in LTSS education Post-Pandemic

The Utah Geriatric Education Consortium Learning Community transitioned to the Age-Friendly Long-Term Services and Support (LTSS) ECHO with support from Comagine Health, our local QIN-QIO. ECHO sessions utilize case-based learning and mentorship to help community providers gain the expertise required to provide needed care and/or services to older adults. Since March 2020, and in response to the needs of our partners, four ECHO sessions (average of 47 attendees per session) have focused on COVID-19 training including COVID-19 briefings, infection prevention, positive thinking and coping with stress. With our partners, we also co-created a 3-part LTSS telehealth ECHO series to illustrate how telehealth can address the unique challenges of COVID-19. We will discuss 1) how we met the educational needs of our partners during a health crisis 2) the process we took to develop the LTSS telehealth ECHO series, and 3) opportunities for continued virtual education application.

New Networks, New Connections: Geriatric Student Scholars Embrace Adaptive Learning

The Arkansas Geriatric Education Collaborative (AR’s GWEP) embraces, nurtures, and encourages students with a passion for caring for older adults. Each year five geriatric scholars are chosen from across the spectrum of health services schools (MD, RN, PT, PA, Pharm D, dental hygiene, etc.) to enhance their geriatric knowledge and experience. Requirements focus on geriatric academic and community-based opportunities. However, these opportunities drastically changed with the pandemic. Therefore, the students became very innovative as they trudged forward to meet and exceed the scholar objectives. They participated in various virtual events to fulfil their academic and community participation requirements. They worked together to develop and implement an interdisciplinary final project that marketed to and engaged rural isolated older adults in a fun educational event aimed at preventing social isolation in older adults and caregivers. Students learned how to connect to and bridge the digital divide with isolated rural older adults.

Adopting the 4Ms Framework and Age-Friendly Concepts Into Dental Care

We report on launching a dental initiative that addresses healthy aging and oral health, focusing on prevention and changing the false belief that aging inevitably involves deterioration in oral health. Our project integrates the age-friendly health system's principles into specialty dental care at Eastman Institute for Oral Health, URMC. We established an oral health-centered framework with project elements of the 4Ms - what matters, medication, mentation, and mobility. We developed pilot 4Ms templates integrated into dental charts to implement healthy-aging key oral health processes, including oral health assessment, treatment planning, and oral hygiene support. We engaged all members of the dental team through educational sessions for providing care for patients affected by Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. We leveraged on locally available interdisciplinary resources and the collaboration reflecting undergoing efforts at the University of Rochester Division of Geriatrics and the Finger Lakes Geriatric Education Center, a Geriatric Workforce Enhancement.

Answering the Call for Diversity and Racial Equity: The National Association for Geriatric Education

The National Association for Geriatric Education (NAGE) is a non-profit organization representing geriatric and gerontology programs, including Health Services and Resource Administration funded Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Programs (GWEPs), and Geriatric Academic Career Awardees (GACAs). NAGE responded to the renewed call to address systemic racism and racial inequities by forming a Diversity and Racial Equity Workgroup. The Workgroup explored ways to disseminate educational resources, support members to address racial inequities among older adults, promote increased diversity of the geriatrics/gerontology workforce, and support public policy initiatives that address racism and health disparities. Initial outputs include creating a Diversity and Racial Equity resource page, identifying liaisons to the Workgroup from each NAGE Committee to ensure impact across the organization, and organizing collaborations across GWEPs and GACAs to share successful initiatives. Future plans include education and advocacy with members and collaborating organizations to address systemic racism and racial health inequities impacting older adults.

Geriatric Education on Telehealth (GET) Access: A medical student volunteer program to increase access to geriatric telehealth services at the onset of COVID-19

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic placed an unprecedented demand on health systems to rapidly shift ambulatory in-person care to virtual care. Geriatric patients face more challenges with video visit access compared to younger patients due to discomfort with technology and less access to devices and internet. Medical students at the University of Michigan created an initiative to improve access to and comfort with video visits for geriatric patients. The program's goals were to (a) explore options for the delivery of personalized training to older adults, (b) create materials for volunteers to successfully navigate conversations with patients and caregivers, (c) provide patients one-to-one remote guidance while identifying and overcoming barriers—with practice sessions to increase comfort, (d) share with the larger health system, and (e) ensure program sustainability. Over a 10-week evaluation period, providers whose patients worked with our geriatric education on telehealth access volunteers had a video visit rate of 43% compared to 19.2% prior to participation in the program (adjusted odds ratio = 3.38, 95% confidence interval = 2.49, 4.59), ultimately providing a platform for geriatric patients to foster stronger connections with their providers, while increasing Michigan Medicine's overall proportion of video telehealth visits.