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News from
the Chair
 Continuing
Education for Health Professionals
Since the establishment of the Arkansas Geriatric Education
Center (AGEC) we have produced 10 video teleconferences on
a variety of topics; in 2000-2001 the topics were Palliative
Care; Hypertension and Stroke, co-sponsored with the Arkansas
Stroke Association, a division of the Arkansas chapter of
the American Heart Association; Parkinson's Disease; and Sexuality
and Aging. We have collaborated on these video teleconferences
with the Oklahoma GEC and the Donald W. Reynolds Department
of Geriatrics at the Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center.
These videoteleconferences are broadcast through the interactive
television network in Arkansas and reach all the Area Health
Education Centers, the Rural Hospital Network, and independent
receiver sites located at community colleges, branches of
the University of Arkansas, and other institutions. All the
video teleconferences have been edited and VHS tapes of each
are available. They are the base of a videotape library and
are being used as educational tools for medical and associated
health professions students, as well as other GECs and the
VA medical centers in our network. Parts of these tapes have
been used for Geriatric Grand Rounds.
The GRECC, AGEC and DWR Institute on Aging have sponsored or
co-sponsored 4 symposia during this past year. In September,
2000, Nutrition and Aging XV: Alternative Nutrition Therapies
in the Elderly, our nationally recognized program, was
sponsored by the CAVHS GRECC with co-sponsorship with the
AGEC and the DWR Institute on Aging. In October, 2000, the AGEC
supported the Arkansas Medical Directors Association meeting.
In February, 2001, the AGEC, DWR Institute on Aging, and GRECC
sponsored the second Geriatric Medicine Update: Infectious
Disease in the Elderly. The faculty was drawn from local experts
but the keynote speaker was Kent Crossley, MD, PhD, Professor
of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of Minnesota Medical
School, Minneapolis, MN.
In April, 2001, we sponsored another in a series of workshops
on best practices in the continuum of care; this year's program
was on Alzheimer's Disease. Guest speakers included Ladislav
Volicer, MD, Associate Director for Clinical Activities, GRECC,
West Roxbury/Bedford VAMC, and Professor of Pharmacology and
Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine,Boston, MA;
Elizabeth Clipp, PhD, RN, Associate Director for Research,
Durham VAMC, Associate Professor of Medicine and Nursing,
Duke University Medical Center; and Tammy Hopper, PhD, CCC-SLP,
postdoctoral student, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ.
Local outstanding faculty Victor Henderson, MD, Professor
of Geriatrics and Neurology, Donald W. Reynolds Department
of Geriatrics, UAMS; Cornelia Beck, PhD, RN, Professor of
Medicine, Nursing, Geriatrics, and Psychiatry and Behavioral
Sciences, UAMS, and Research Health Scientist, Health Services
Research and Development, CAVHS; and W. Sue T. Griffin, PhD,
Associate Director for Research, GRECC, CAVHS and Professor
and Vice Chairman for Research, Donald W. Reynolds Department
of Geriatrics, UAMS.
Through these efforts, well over 1000 health professionals
and health professions students in Arkansas have been reached
with educational programs that have provided approximately
6000 hours of continuing education. The opportunity to expand
these programs to reach more individuals is a goal for the
future.
A short survey of 900+ health professionals who attended
AGEC/GRECC sponsored programs was conducted as a formative
evaluation. Questions concerned the quality and topics of
programs as well as the impact these programs were having
on the participants practice. Results indicated that 10% believed
that the programs they participated in made a significant
change in their practice; 67% reported they made some change
in their practice; 21% indicated that they had made little
change in their practice; and 2% reported they had made no
change in their practice.
Geriatrics Training: Health Professionals
The AGEC has a partnership with the Oklahoma Geriatric Education
Center (OkGEC) to support the Red Earth Gerontology Scholars
program. During this past academic year, 5 scholars were recruited
and 4 completed the program, for a total of 10 recruited and
8 program completers. This program will be discontinued in
August, 2001 due to the completion of our contract with the
Oklahoma GEC.
This year we have been working on the development of a new
preceptorship program in Arkansas, AR-GEMS, Arkansas Geriatric
Education Mentors & Scholars. Pilot training sessions
have been conducted with participants from Springdale and
El Dorado. A coaching and mentoring workshop is scheduled
for June 1-2, 2001, bringing together both groups. Materials
were developed by Elaine Souder, PhD, RN, Associate Professor,
College of Nursing and Director, AR-GEMS, AGEC, UAMS; Diane
Heestand, EdD, Director, Office of Educational Development,
UAMS; Soledad Jasin, PhD, Senior Education Specialist, AGEC;
and S. Todd McKee, MEd, instructional design specialist, Donald
W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, AGEC, Department of Geriatrics.
An abstract on the AR-GEMS program was submitted and accepted
for presentation at the National AHEC Organization meeting
in September, 2001.
Another version of AR-GEMS is a faculty training program
being pilot tested with nursing faculty at Phillips County
Community College faculty in DeWitt and Helena. This is scheduled
to occur the last 2 weeks in June, 2001.
The AGEC newsletter, Vision, has been published 8
times since July, 1999. The mailing list is close to 900 with
additional copies going out to readers of Geriatric Rounds.
There have been over 1000 hits on the AGEC website (www.uams.edu/agec)
since its inception.
Geriatrics Training: Students
The IOAEC has been instrumental in developing an elective
course on Death & Dying. This course has been well-subscribed
to in the 4 years that it has been offered and is the first
interprofessional course to be attended by students in each
of the UAMS colleges (medicine, nursing, pharmacy, health
related professions, and the graduate school). A subcommittee
of the IOAEC worked on the development of a second interprofessional
course on Communicating with Older Adults. The subcommittee
members represent all of the colleges at UAMS and worked collaboratively
in the development and design of this course. This course
will be offered Fall term, 2001 for graduate credit as well
as undergraduate credit in CHRP, COP, and the COM.
The faculty AR-GEMS program will be focused on supporting
faculty to incorporate geriatrics into the curriculum of health
professions students. Follow-up evaluations will be conducted
to classify the impact of the program.
Future Plans
The IOAEC and AGEC in collaboration with the GRECC expect
to do the following in the coming year:
- Produce 4 video teleconferences
- Sponsor at least 4 continuing education conferences
- Disseminate the AR-GEMS program
- Submit a renewal grant to continue funding the GEC depending
on funds available in the federal budget
- Develop continuing education post-tests and evaluation
forms based on the videotaped video teleconferences
- Continue to collaborate with Schmieding Center on continuing
education projects
- Work with the Arkansas Aging Initiative to develop the
professional education and training programs in Springdale,
El Dorado, Texarkana, Jonesboro, and Helena as well as other
sites that will start senior health centers
- Collaborate on the Administration on Aging projects
- Collaborate with the ADCC education program
- Fulfill the commitments of the AGEC grant
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Ronni Chernoff, PhD, RD, FADA
Director, Arkansas Geriatric Education Center
Associate Director for Education, GRECC, Central Arkansas
Veterans Healthcare System
Director of Education for the Donald W. Reynolds Center on
Aging
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