by Jason Lee, MD, MPH

As a recent graduate of the VA-UCLA Geriatric Medicine Fellowship Program, I am grateful for the numerous educational programs provided by the California Association of Long Term Care Medicine (CALTCM) that advance interprofessional education and collaborative care in post-acute and long-term care (PA/LTC) settings. These programs enabled fellows to develop skills in leadership and management in geriatrics, participate in advocacy and public policy in healthy aging, and promote patient safety and quality improvement strategies in the care of older adults.

With the support of CALTCM, I participated in the Foundation for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine’s Futures Program, an interprofessional development program that exposed residents, fellows, and advanced practice nurses to career tracks available in PA/LTC medicine.  The Futures Program was held in conjunction with the AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine Annual Conference, and Futures participants attended conference sessions on the latest clinical developments in geriatric medicine, policy and regulatory updates, and best practices in medical direction.  Also, I joined the CALTCM delegation at the Society’s House of Delegates to advocate for key issues affecting the care of older adults in PA/LTC settings.  The Futures Program demonstrated how interprofessional training prepares all health professionals towards a common goal of building a safer patient-centered system for the geriatric population.

CALTCM, in partnership with UCLA and SCAN Health Plan, also presented the 14th Annual Leadership and Management in Geriatrics (LMG) conference.  All of the VA-UCLA geriatrics fellows attended LMG and spent time in an intensive and highly interactive setting with leaders in the field of geriatric care management.  A unique feature of LMG was the opportunity to work in small collaborative groups with a faculty mentor to develop and implement an action plan for a worksite-specific management/leadership challenge.  LMG faculty mentors helped refine our quality improvement projects, and we were able to implement them successfully during our fellowship training.

The fellows also attended the 42nd CALTCM Annual Meeting, Quality Through Best Practices, which focused on person-centered care in the long-term care setting. The meeting provided practical training towards interdisciplinary team development and addressed quality measures identified by the Medicare Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO), Health Services Advisory Group (HSAG).  Over the past year, CALTCM has consistently emphasized the value of interprofessional collaborative practice as key to safe, high quality, accessible, patient-centered care.  I strongly recommend and encourage that all geriatrics fellows in California join CALTCM and attend its programs during their fellowship training so they may enter the workforce ready to practice effective teamwork and team-based care.

Click here to learn more about our programs:

Leadership and Management in Geriatrics  LMG 2017: February 24-25, 2017

2016 Fall Conference: Highlighting the Best of Quality Through Best Practices  2016 Fall Conference October 29, 2016