Mini-Fellowships for Practicing Healthcare Professionals

Training primary care providers of patients in underserved areas to care for older patients

Mini-fellowships were granted to over 100 Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, Physician’s Assistants and other interdisciplinary providers from AltaMed, Southland Integrated Services, Inc. and the UC Irvine FQHC.

These mini-fellowships included how to integrate geriatric-focused clinical care processes at primary care clinics. The courses covered topics such as, polypharmacy, chronic disease management, and dementia in the older adult, behavioral disturbances, team-based care, palliative care, hospice, advance directives, and falls. Courses were taught by interdisciplinary instructors, including pharmacy, psychology, physicians, nurses, and social workers from the Alzheimer’s Orange County.

Following the intensive, the trained providers engaged in a longitudinal mentorship with UC Irvine Geriatricians to support their learning and answer questions about patient care and other processes.

This mini-fellowship program proved to be so successful in provider education and patient care, that it is currently being adapted to an online format. This new format will allow for providers throughout the country to engage in furthering their geriatric education and have access to Geriatricians for support of more comprehensive care of their older adult patients.

Information from the mini-fellowship can be accessed here. If you are interested in reaching out to a Geriatric Mentor, contact us here.