Reduction of Rehospitalization with Addition of Geriatrics/Transitions of Care Consult Service.

Older adults are at high risk of rehospitalization after an acute event and at even higher risk of permanently losing an activity of daily living with each hospitalization. This is especially true in those with encephalopathy, delirium, dementia, falls, and failure to thrive. Although it is widely known that rehospitalization rates are higher in patients who discharge to skilled nursing and long-term care facilities, geriatrics consultations have not been shown to consistently decrease this risk.

Development of a Hybrid Simulated Patient Experience to Practice Care of the Dying Older Adult.

Introduction: Care of the dying older adult includes critical skills that emerging physicians should master but are not consistently taught. Simulation has been shown to be an excellent tool for teaching these skills in a standardized fashion. Simulation allows direct observation to assess and provide learner feedback.

Palliative Care of Urologic Patients at End of Life.

This article focuses on the issues facing patients with advanced and terminal urologic illness, from the framework of care planning based on defining patient-specific and family-specific goals of care, to palliative management strategies for common symptoms and syndromes that these patients and their families experience. This article also focuses on the management of common urologic issues that may arise in the course of care for all patients at the end of life, as well as the impact of these conditions on caregivers.

Development of an ambulatory geriatrics knowledge examination for internal medicine residents.

Background: The number of older adults needing primary care exceeds the capacity of trained geriatricians to accommodate them. All physicians should have basic knowledge of optimal outpatient care of older adults to enhance the capacity of the system to serve this patient group. To date, there is no knowledge-assessment tool that focuses specifically on geriatric ambulatory care.

Transient impact of automated glomerular filtration rate reporting on drug dosing for hospitalized older adults with concealed renal insufficiency.

Background: Older adults with concealed renal insufficiency are at risk of medication dosing errors. It is not known whether automated estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) reporting is associated with reduced dosing errors in this population.

Objective: The goal of the present study was to examine the impact on prescribing patterns in older adults with concealed renal insufficiency for a variety of renally cleared medications before and after the addition of automated eGFR reporting.