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The Geriatric Scholar Program (GSP) is a Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) workforce development program to infuse geriatrics competencies in primary care. This multimodal educational program is targeted to primary care providers and ancillary staff who work in VA's rural clinics. GSP consists of didactic education and training in geriatrics and gerontology and in quality improvement (QI) and support to implement a local QI project; in addition, elective options include webinars, audio conferences, clinical practica, and mentoring. The program is effective in improving core competencies in geriatrics and in improving clinical care for older Veterans who receive health care in rural clinics. (Contains 5 tables.)

Clinicians experience great pressures to provide timely, effective, and evidence-based medical care. Educators can aid these clinicians through the development of new tools that can facilitate timely completion of clinical tasks. These tools should summarize evidence-based information in a convenient format that allows easy use. This article describes one process in which a group of Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center educators identified an area where important new information accrued, their development of a new clinical and teaching tool for imparting the new information, the initial dissemination of the tool to a preliminary target audience, and the initial evaluation of the new tool to determine how to improve its distribution and use beyond the original target audience. (Contains 3 tables.)

There is a perennial need to extend geriatrics knowledge and expertise to primary care providers to meet the unique needs of older patients. Reaching the target population of providers in an effective manner presents challenges for educators and evaluation of education programs. Gaps in a previous dissemination of an Assessment Guide for delirium, dementia, and depression were addressed through a multimodal strategy to reach a greater proportion of the intended audience, primary care clinicians, and to further evaluate the clinical impact of this learning resource. Sixty-five health care providers completed a forced choice online questionnaire. The majority of respondents were primary care providers (62.5%) who used the Assessment Guide in clinical activities such as patient assessment and patient education. Semistructured interviews with selected key informants (N = 16) provided examples of clinical impact such as improved diagnosis and changes in medication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two models were used to provide ongoing education about Alzheimer's disease for primary care physicians in a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) network including 8 facilities. The Train the Trainer model developed by the John A. Hartford Foundation and the American Geriatrics Society was used to prepare physician leaders to conduct Memory Loss Tool Kit sessions for colleagues in their VHA settings. Videoconference techniques were used to present case-based Grand Rounds about best practices around particular patient situations. Methods and evaluation of both programs are discussed. Successful follow-through by physician leaders requires ongoing incentives and support. The Videoconference Grand Rounds Program requires skill to initiate and maintain effective technology. Both programs demonstrate successful outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents six abstracts for projects that are developing interest solutions to the elderly's quality-of-life challenges. The first two abstracts discuss projects that will help provide the elderly with freedom and independence by instrumenting their environments with supportive technology. General Electric is moving forward with the Home Assurance system that will augment a traditional home panic button with a gateway module capable of transmitting additional information to family caregivers in near-real time via a secure Web site. Talking Lights, in collaboration with Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is using modulated illumination as a locator means for context-awareness systems. The systems use ordinary fluorescent fixtures, incandescent table lamps and compact fluorecent lamps with standard bulbs and wiring to provide an inherent spatial sampling. The next two abstracts discuss projects building specialized user interfaces to address some of the challenges associated with aging, such as vision impairment. The final two abstracts present projects that will aid independence for the elderly by providing remote monitoring and assistance.

Home safety is a major concern for persons with a progressive dementia, such as Alzheimer's disease, because much direct care is provided in the home setting. This study used the Home Safety/Injury Model as a frame work to describe the domain of caregiver competence, one of the model's key constructs. Interview data from the perspectives of 17 informants yielded a total of 68 clinical situations that allowed exploration of the scope and dimensions of caregiver competence to prevent accidents in the home. The factors most influential for effective caregiver prevention of home injury were family support, an acceptance and ability to make role changes, teaching and role modeling from professionals, and long-standing values and family traditions. No single factor was sufficient to achieve effective caregiving for making the home safer, but the strength of one or two factors could compensate for the absence of others.