Training and Education

Geriatrics Fellowship Training Program

The Geriatrics Fellowship Training Program currently has eight physician fellows enrolled in a 2-year curriculum designed to produce geriatrician leaders. Formal training in leadership skills (100+ hours) is given in year 1, and all fellows conduct at least one scholarly independent project during years 1 and 2 of the program. The fellowship was approved with the highest evaluation in all rounds of review by the American College of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).

Formal affiliations with 11 clinical organizations in the region, in addition to the John Dempsey Hospital (University), support UConn Center on Aging clinical education and research programs in geriatrics. The contributions of UConn Center on Aging faculty to clinical education in geriatrics in Connecticut are considerable; they provide leadership for five Hartford area hospitals (including the largest hospital in the state), and at five teaching nursing homes. They comprise an invaluable network for teaching outstanding clinical geriatrics care for students, residents and practitioners, as well as for other health care professionals.

A gerontology fellowship program at the campus branch supports graduate students from any discipline in a curriculum in aging.

A state-funded Center of Excellence was awarded in 1987 to the UConn Center on Aging campus branch.

Numerous grants have been awarded UConn Center on Aging to develop models of and educational materials for geriatrics education.

Curriculum

Year 1

1.       Ambulatory geriatrics clinics and home care (VA Connecticut Health Care System and University Hospital)
2.       Teaching nursing home: long-term care (Hebrew Home and Hospital)
3.       Teaching nursing home: sub-acute care, hospice and adult day care (St. Francis Hospital & Medical Center)
4.       Rehabilitation hospital (Hospital for Special Care)
5.       Geropsychiatry in-patient and out-patient care (Masonic Home and Hospital)
6.       Inpatient Geriatrics Service (University Hospital)
7.       Academic Leadership and Research Skills Course

Year 2

1.        Inpatient Geriatrics Service (University Hospital)
2.        Ambulatory geriatrics and home care (VA Connecticut Health Care System)
3.        Teaching skills development
4.        Independent Project
5.        Electives

Goals and Objectives

All fellows spend 1/2 day weekly for two years providing primary care for a panel of elderly out-patients in the university-based Geriatrics Associates, P.C. When these patients need hospital care, they are admitted to the Geriatrics Service at the university hospital (JDH). Fellows are encouraged to select a second clinic site for longitudinal care in Year 1.

All fellows follow a small panel of nursing home patients at the Hebrew Home and Hospital in their second year for longitudinal care.

The mission of the University of Connecticut Center on Aging (UCA) at the University of Connecticut is to improve the well-being of older Americans through teaching and research programs in aging at the University and within its constituent schools, particularly in the health professions. Improvement and innovation in clinical care, arising from production and teaching of new knowledge relevant to that care, characterize the UCA. There is now widespread agreement in academic medicine that geriatrics is an essential component of any comprehensive teaching and research program. The UCA is the academic geriatrics program for the University of Connecticut. The UCA's Geriatrics Fellowship links UCHC with ten clinical affiliates, and generates new academic geriatricians for faculty positions nationwide.

The fellowship has been accredited continuously as a joint internal medicine-family medicine program by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education since the first round of review in 1988. Family physicians as well as internists are encouraged to apply. The Associate Director is a family physician graduate of the program, and one slot is reserved annually for family physicians.

The goal of the University of Connecticut Geriatrics Fellowship is to produce new leaders in geriatric medicine who will teach excellent care of older persons and/or conduct aging-related research at medical schools, teaching hospitals, academic nursing homes, and other sites serving elderly individuals. Most graduates will have a teaching or research career emphasis.

Graduates of the University of Connecticut Geriatrics Fellowship program will be able to demonstrate knowledge of:

1. Expert clinical care of ill older persons in a continuum of care including acute hospital, ambulatory and institutional long term care, geropsychiatry, home care and rehabilitation.

2. Health policy and the health care delivery system relevant to the elderly, including funding and long-term care.

3. Teaching and curriculum development in all settings relevant to geriatric care, and intimate understanding of administrative issues in geriatrics program development.

4. Aging research in basic, clinical, epidemiologic or health policy investigations.

All fellows have the same didactic and clinical curriculum, as well as the year 1 Academic Leadership and Research Skills course. Each fellow undertakes a scholarly project in year 2. The balance between research, teaching, and administrative training emphasis in year 2 is determined after discussion with individual fellows about career goals. For fellows pursuing research-intensive careers, a third year of training is encouraged.