Over the last month, children all across Canada have continued a time-honoured tradition of going back to school in the fall to gain knowledge and skills that will serve as the building blocks of their lives. However, even though this happens every year, it seems we only think that it’s younger Canadians who need to go back to school.
In fact, I’m sure all Canadians could benefit from further education in their fields. In medicine and health care, there’s a well-known need to prepare our current trainees to care for our ageing population, but our current doctors, nurses, social workers, physiotherapists and occupational therapists, pharmacists, and many others could and do benefit from continuing education to stay on top of a rapidly evolving area of care.
In Ontario, there clearly exists a need to improve entry to practice education in gerontology. While 50% of educators in entry to practice programs believe that their graduates have the necessary competencies for providing care to older adults, 75% of teaching faculty and 64% of education administrators say that gerontology content should be improved in their own programs. This gap exists across multiple health professions: physicians, dentists, nurses, occupational therapists, paramedics, personal support workers, pharmacists, physiotherapists, social workers and the list goes on and on. In Canadian nursing programs, only 2.4% of nursing faculty with master’s degrees and 6% of those with doctoral degrees focused on gerontology. Clearly, there’s room for improvement.
We don’t know what percentage of health professionals feel adequately prepared to provide care to our rapidly ageing population, but if the current concerns around teaching gerontological skills in entry to practice programs is any indication, there are many health professionals working today who could likely benefit from further education.
To meet the growing needs of our health professional colleagues for specialized training in providing care to older patients, we have undertaken some innovative initiatives.
The Emergency Department (ED) at Mount Sinai Hospital has become a leading ED in North America and internationally for providing emergency care to older patients. We’ve been able to achieve this not just with the support of our talented emergency physicians and dedicated geriatric emergency management nurses, but an entire department now geared toward providing excellent care for older patients with the support of an online training program developed at Sinai called www.Geri-EM.com. Designed primarily for physicians and nurses working in EDs who want to provide optimal care to their older patients, Geri-EM.com is an innovative, open access and free e-learning website was developed by Mount Sinai Hospital ED physician, Dr. Don Melady. It offers six interactive and in-depth learning modules focusing on geriatric issues commonly dealt with in ED settings. These learning modules have been so well received by our ED staff that they have now become a requirement for any physician, nurse or other professional wishing to work in the emergency department at Mount Sinai Hospital. Meanwhile, over 3,300 modules have been completed for credit by physicians, nurses, paramedics, physiotherapists, pharmacists and other health professionals from around the world, including Canada, the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Malaysia, South Africa and many others.
Another online geriatric education initiative that has garnered attention from learners around the world is our Ontario Geriatrics Learning Centre, which hosts lectures on a variety of topics related to the care of older adults from thyroid disease and hypertension to driving, exercise and nutrition. Many of the lectures and presentations are delivered and curated by Sinai Health System staff, which extends our engagement not only across the province but to care providers in countries around the world, including from China to Curaçao and from India to Israel.
For those who would like more in-person geriatric education, we provide a variety of avenues for individuals seeking to gain further training in geriatrics. Last year, we hosted 205 interprofessional learners in geriatric medicine, including nurses, social workers, pharmacists and many others at all levels from medical students to residents and fellows. Twice a year, Sinai Health System and the University Health Network further provide education to more than 500 family physicians, nurses, social workers, physiotherapists, and other allied health professionals at our Geriatrics Institute Education Day in June and Toronto Geriatrics Update Course in October. Each of these conferences are incredibly popular among their attendees, who benefit from high-quality evidence-based information in the most relevant and best practices of geriatric care on such topics as treating dementia, deprescribing, functional and cognitive decline, and geriatric care in Indigenous communities. Many attendees return year after year to enhance their knowledge of geriatric care.
Through these channels, many health professionals all over the world have benefited from further education in geriatric care practices. So, when our kids are going back to school, rest assured that they are not the only ones who are hitting the books to better meet the needs of our ageing population.
Date modified: 2017-10-06
