January 30, 2017 - 11:05 am
- Announcement
- Presentation
On Dec 1 & 2, 2016, Durham VA Health Care System (HCS) offered the VISN 6 Interprofessional Geriatric Conference to interprofessional staff from seven VA hospitals. This educational initiative was sponsored by the Elderly Care in Hospital (ECHo) Program, led by Dr. Cristina Hendrix, and the Durham VA Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center (GRECC), led by Dr. Kenneth Schmader, Professor of Medicine and Chief, Division of Geriatrics, Duke University Medical Center. Both of them served as faculty in the conference. The interprofessional program is a hybrid (online and face-to-face) educational program that introduces healthcare providers to the basic principles of geriatric nursing.
Dr. Maria Orsini’s ECHo Educational Program won a competitive grant from the VA Office of Nursing Service to offer this conference to interprofessional healthcare staff. The conference was in Durham Hilton Near Duke University Hotel. Dr. Orsini, who coordinated the conference, also leads the ECHo Fundamentals in Geriatric Training Program at Durham VAHCS. Dr. Orsini collaborated with many staff to offer this conference, especially with Gwen Waddell-Schultz, the Durham VAHCHS Chief Nurse Executive, Nursing Education and Medicine.
Forty-three participants attended the conference: 19 participants from Durham VA, four Nurse Practitioners from the Duke-Durham VA collaborative -VANAP-GE Program-, and 20 from other six VISN 6 facilities (Asheville, Fayetteville, Greenville, Hampton, Salem, and Salisbury). Participants from Durham VA applied for this program with the purpose of becoming stronger advocates and providers of care for geriatric patients. This educational program assesses the educational geriatric-needs of nurses; provides educational opportunities for nurses to learn fundamental knowledge, skills, and attitudes towards patients who are 65 years old and older; and provides mentorship and collaborative opportunities to practice and teach what is learned.
Two of the educational offerings in the conference used the six geriatric videos developed with the 2016 DukeAHEAD grant that Dr. Orsini and colleagues received for the research titled Inter-professional Team Using TeamSTEPPS to Improve Elder Care. Faculty members used these videos, depicting two sepsis patients with hyper and hypo delirium, to teach cognitive assessment and iatrogenic causes of delirium. Participants practiced assessing delirium using the evidence-based short CAM tool and assessing for possible causes of delirium using the CHIMBOP model (Casarett & Inoye, 2001). One of the main objectives was to learn how to reverse the geriatric syndrome of delirium. The post-conference evaluations showed that 100% of participants perceived that that all the objectives of the conference were met.
The topics taught in the conference, mostly by members of the Durham VA ECHo Steering Committee, were the following: epidemiology, cognitive assessment, functional assessment (Deborah Hand and Glenn Gargano, both Occupational Therapists), nutritional assessment and interventions, medication safety (BEERS criteria presented by Dr. Emily Anastasia, Pharmacist), pain management, and iatrogenic causes of delirium. Judith Davagnino, the Durham VA Geriatric Programs Social Worker Supervisor, presented the Caring for Older Adults and Caregivers at Home (COACH), a home-based dementia care program at the Durham VA Medical Center. Dr. Janet Campbell is the Program Coordinator for the VA Academic Partnership for Graduate Education (VANAP-GE) with Duke School of Nursing, a topic she presented in the conference. Eleanor (Ellie) McConnell used experiential learning to teach dementia. Dr. McConnell is an Associate Professor at Duke University School of Nursing and a Core Investigator at the Durham VA’s GRECC. The fascinating topic of palliative care and how to manage the symptoms of patients in palliative care was presented by the interprofessional team consisting of Toni Cutson MD, Nurse Practitioner Michaelene Moore, and Laura Murphy-McMillan RN. Brenda Wade, RN, an ECHo learner from the former June 2016 cohort, presented during lunch a case study showing a link between the presence of CAM/delirium assessment in the medical record and its effects on financial resources allocation.
Members of the Durham VAHCS ECHo Steering Committee and GRECC will continue strengthening the collaborations we already have with DukeAHEAD’s interprofessional members and faculty. The expansion of the Durham VAHCS Fundamentals in Geriatric Educational program into this seven-hospital two-day conference, is a good example of how Duke AHEAD’s is fulfilling its mission: to promote excellence in the education of health professionals by creating a community of education scholars, fostering innovation in health professions education, supporting outstanding teachers, providing faculty development programs and facilitating quality education research. Thank you DukeAHEAD for a research grant that is making the difference in the lives of so many geriatric patients and families!