Resource Center

This position statement and companion article represent the official policy position of the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) in regard to COVID-19. The statement is intended to inform stakeholders including hospitals, health systems, and policymakers about ethical considerations to consider when developing strategies for allocating scarce resources during an emergency involving older adults. Recommendations for post-pandemic review are included. The article from the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society free to access and download.

This article written by Drs. Marla Berg-Weger, John Morley, and Max Zubatsky discusses how to combat loneliness in older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic through telehealth groups. It discusses one specific teleheath group called "Circle of Friends" which is an evidence‐based intervention that focuses on helping older adults socialize through interactive activities.

This editorial written by Drs. Marla Berg-Weger and John E. Morley discusses how loneliness and social isolation affect older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also describes the implications that gerontological social work faces because of the pandemic.

This article written by Drs. Allison Gibson, Cara L. Wallace, Patrick White, and Stephanie P. Wladkowski describes the relationship of the COVID-19 pandemic to anticipatory grief, disenfranchised grief, and complicated grief for individuals, families, and their providers. It also provides discussion regarding countering this grief through communication, advance care planning, and self-care practices.

This brief article written by Dr. John E. Morley discusses COVID-19 in the older adult population, and specific things older adults should do to avoid contracting the disease. TThe article describes the Simple "FRAIL" Questionnaire Screening Tool for older adults and its scoring.

This research article describes end-of-life care preferences and acute care and hospice use in the last 6 months of life for persons enrolled in a comprehensive dementia care management program. It highlights the importance of advance care planning as a critical component of high-quality care for persons with Alzheimer disease and other dementias.

Source: UCLA Health, 2019.
https://www.uclahealth.org/

ABSTRACT

This study describes "My Life, My Story", an educational activity for enhancing patient-centered care (PCC) competencies across health professions trainees. The activity most influenced trainees' ability to understand the patient as a "whole person" along with other PCC competencies such as showing empathy, really listening, building knowledge of values and goals, and building relationships. Creation of an account and a fee is required to view this article, or it can be viewed through affiliation with a member organization.

This article discusses recommendations for overcoming barriers to achieving consistent, high-quality clinical outcomes in long-term and post-acute care facilities. It also provides recommendations regarding inadequate workforce, suboptimal culture and interprofessional teamwork, insufficiently evidence-based processes of care, and poor adoption and fidelity of technology and integrated clinical decision support.

This set of competencies is designed for graduating medical students, and acts as minimum set of geriatric competency standards for first-year residents. The competencies are based on accepted standards of evidence-based geriatric care and contain the following domains: medication management; self-care capacity; falls, balance and gait disorders; hospital care for elders; cognitive and behavioral disorders; atypical presentation of disease; health care planning and promotion; and palliative care.