By Robin McAtee, PhD, RN, FACHE, Director, Arkansas Geriatric Education Collaborative (AGEC), a Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP) at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging (DWR IOA)
Fall 2019
Hello everyone from the Arkansas Geriatric Education Collaborative (AGEC), the Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program for Arkansas. Summer of 2019 is over and we are beginning one of the busiest times of the year. Summer was very eventful for us as we started our new grant and began working to bring new partners and collaborators on board with the AGEC!
We have been very busy this fall with community and health professional programming. We had our first fall professional continuing education program featuring our newest AGEC member Leah Tobey, PT, DPT and Morgan Storey, APRN who presented a two-hour webinar entitled Urological Issues in Older Adults & Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy Interventions. This event focused on improving the attendees’ awareness of urological and non-invasive pelvic floor PT services, and evidence-based treatment options for urinary urgency management. They also reviewed potential medication causes of urinary incontinence and best suited options for treatment. Stay tuned for our upcoming continuing education events on our website at agec.uams.edu. We have started new fall community programs with our partner Arkansas AARP. We are conducting lunch and learns in several rural locations across the state with topics ranging from pain management to family caregiving for loved ones with dementia.
Our academic partners are also busy this fall. UCA just completed their annual Inter Profession Education forum on October 15 with over 400 students in attendance from OT, PT, Nursing, Health Sciences, Exercise and Sport Sciences, Addiction Studies, Communication Sciences and Disorders, Family and Consumer Sciences and Psychology. Students were able to learn how each profession would contribute to the health and wellbeing of a real patient who served as a ‘live’ client. Nine clients and caregivers discussed their case with inter professional groups of students that then offered suggestions on how they would assist the client in their care. ASU faculty are updating curriculum and clinical experiences in areas that impact older adults and have many nurse practitioner students involved in projects such as screening for osteoporosis, colorectal cancer, and depression.
In other exciting news, we had 20 stellar applications for 5 Geriatric Student Scholar positions! After much hard decision making, we have named our 5 new scholars for this year and will be announcing them soon – stay tuned!
We continue to seek new ways to reach and teach all audiences and if you have any suggestions, please let us know.