A virtual geriatrics and palliative care immersion course for inter-professional teams

Introduction Older adults suffering from multiple progressing illnesses and geriatric syndromes need interprofessional teams to optimize care There are insufficient number of trained geriatrics experts to serve the ageing population;it is critical to devise practical ways to train frontline clinicians in geriatrics and palliative care principles During the COVID-19 pandemic, with support from a HRSA grant, the authors adapted an Immersion Course modeled on the successful CRIT program (Chief Resident Immersion Training in the Care of Older Adults) The virtual course focused on the Age Friendly Health System's 4Ms (What Matters, Mentation, Medication, and Mobility) to coach a wide range of trainees and professionals in the care for older adults Methods The 1 5-day virtual course interspersed mini-lectures with 3 interactive breakout case module discussions depicting a patient with progressing dementia Lectures were taught by interprofessional faculty pairs and discussion groups were structured to maximize interprofessional learning Didactic sessions included dementia, depression, deprescribing, non-pharmacological pain management, falls, frailty, community resources, telehealth etc On day two, attendees were introduced to the principles of an Age Friendly Health System with support from Institute for Healthcare Improvement and participated in interactive quality improvement (QI) breakout exercises with coaching focused on potential QI projects Results Fifty-seven people attended the course including doctors, MAs, RNs, social workers, chaplains, PAs, NPs, pharmacists and representatives from community-based organizations The average pre-test score was 66%;the post-test average rose to 80% Scores improved consistently across all professions and experience levels The evaluations and comments in the group feedback session were uniformly enthusiastic;they all reported that the content was at the right level Conclusion We have successfully conducted a 1 5-day virtual immersion course for interprofessional trainees and clinicians The course was well accepted and successfully imparted core geriatrics, palliative care and quality improvement content while fostering interprofessional teamwork This conference could serve as a model for training the existing workforce to better care for vulnerable adults during this unprecedented pandemic time and beyond