Academy for Gerontology/Geriatrics in Higher Education Program of Merit
The UNE COM Division of Geriatrics has been awarded the Academy for Gerontology/Geriatrics in Higher Education (AGHE) Program of Merit (POM). UNE COM is the first college of osteopathic medicine to attain this award. The award recognizes UNE COM’s robust geriatrics 50+ hours of required curriculum that includes completion of national competencies, geriatrics education, scholarship, and clinical training (80% of the geriatrics curriculum involves student engagement with older people).
As a result, all UNE COM graduates are presented with a personalized certificate from the international organization, the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) that confers this award. Additionally, all second through fourth year osteopathic medical students are provided with an Honors Curriculum Vitae (CV) citation. This honor verifies that every UNE COM student has completed the geriatrics curriculum and therefore attained knowledge, attitudes, and skills in the care of older adults regardless of their field of practice.
Values
- Excellence in geriatrics education, scholarship, and clinical services
- Professionalism and respect for older adults and their care partners and ensuring our students are aware of the detrimental health effects of ageism
- Health promotion and disease management that incorporates the dynamic interaction of mind, body, and spirit
- Innovative and creative scholarship and research that advances and translates the interprofessional principles and practices of geriatrics care and services through the lens of Age Friendly Health Systems, ensuring person-centered outcomes that honor what matters most to the person.
- Collaboration among health professions for the betterment of older adults
- Engaged to health policy advocacy for older adults
Goals
- Strengthen and implement a consolidated didactic curriculum for preclinical education in geriatrics for COM that engages learners in a person/patient-first approach.
- Strengthen the clinical practices through education and practicums to emphasize older person/doctor relations to maximize older adult health and wellbeing.
- Advance additional elective classroom, small group, clinical care, and research activities to augment learning related to older adult health care practices, case presentations, documentation skills, and keeping in mind age-friendly healthcare approaches.
- Develop elective clerkships in geriatrics while seeking the resources for a required clerkship for all UNE COM students.
- Advance opportunities in geriatrics scholarship/research for students supported by UNE COM faculty and leaders in the field worldwide.
- Develop and implement expanded clinical services in geriatrics that are fiscally and clinically sound.
- Advance the Mature Care multi-professional practice and its educational offerings to UNE COM students.
- Establish an ambulatory clinical consultative and evaluation services.
- Expand the scope of the U-ExCEL program at Piper Shores Retirement Living Community and engage students in its offerings for internships, scholarship, and research.
- Expand the current high number of UNE COM students that are choosing geriatrics and palliative care/hospice fellowships post residency training.
- Develop and implement dissemination strategies for knowledge, attitude, and skills in geriatrics with UNE health professions programs and community partners.
- Continue and expand UNE COM’s partnership with the UNE Center for Healthy Aging to develop, promote, model, and implement interprofessional activities in the field of aging.
- Develop outreach programs for consultation and promotion of geriatrics knowledge, skills, and attitudes for practitioners.