Our Work

Training

The UCSF Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program addresses gaps in the care of older adults through innovative training and health systems improvement. The “Age-Friendly Care (4Ms) Framework" from the Institute for Health Improvement (IHI) provides the foundational topic areas for our curriculum and the unifying strategy for improving care and services for older adults.

This framework supports health care teams in the provision of evidence-based care to older adults that is centered on  what matters to the older adult and their family.

Please take a moment to review a compilation of select trainings that we have conducted for primary care and safety net health systems, community based organizations, public health departments and government agencies. We would like to highlight our Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) legal and support trainings, in addition to an elder abuse curriculum for medical residents and geriatric fellows. If you would like a copy of any training, please reach out to our Program Coordinator, Andrea Gonzalez, MPH at [email protected].

4Ms Framework

To increase quality of care for older adults, we train a wide range of medical and community service providers, as well as older adults and families on the 4Ms framework. Developed by our entire collaborative, our trainings and educational resources are focused on these topic areas:

  1. What Matters—Discuss and encourage each older adult's preferences regarding health outcome goals and  preferences, including end-of-life care, across settings.
  2. Medication—When necessary, use age-friendly medications that do not compromise mentation, mobility or What Matters to each older adult across settings of care.
  3. Mentation—Prevent, identify, treat and manage dementia and depression across settings of care.
  4. Mobility—Ensure that each older adult moves safely every day to maintain function and meaningful activities.

Additionally, to focus on vulnerable populations, the curriculum includes input from specific experts among our group. Openhouse provides information about issues facing LGBTQ populations. Alzheimer’s Association - Northern California and Northern Nevada Chapter serves as an expert on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. And, UC Hastings School of Law provides invaluable guidance on comprehensive advanced care planning. All these experts also advise on the care of older adults who live alone.

Experts on caregiver services from both Homebridge and the Department of Disability and Aging Services contribute to clinical materials for lay caregivers and health care providers to help close gaps in understanding about what caregivers do. All these experts also advise on the care of older adults who live alone.

Age-Friendly Strategy

The Age-Friendly Care (4Ms) Framework supports our work with primary care health systems, including the San Francisco Health Network, the San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium, the Native American Health Center, the SF Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Community-Based Outpatient Clinics, as well as UCSF Health, the Redwood Community Health Coalition, Alameda County Health Services, and Contra Costa Public Health and Health Services. , and human service agencies (see Our Community Partners). Through site-specific initiatives with these systems and our human service partners at the SF Department of Disability and Aging Services, OpenHouse, and Homebridge, we are supporting work to improve and evaluate the way older adults receive health care and services. By collaborating across many sectors, we seek to close gaps in the safety net for older adults.

Our Reach

The UCSF Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program delivers trainings, educational resources, and professional development to a diverse collection of individuals and organizations focused on providing care for older adults including:

  • Older Adults, Families, and Caregivers
  • Medical Doctors
  • Nursing Professionals
  • Behavioral Health and Social Work Professionals

Below are a few testimonials from our trainings:

It was valuable to get an overview of what dementia actually is and how to distinguish the different forms, and most importantly what to look for in terms of 'warning signs'. I don't work in elder care professionally, but I volunteer regularly with an 83-year-old elder. I had been wondering how to notice the progression from 'normal' age-related, occasional forgetfulness to something more serious, and this session gave some really good pointers to look out for. Luckily, it seems my elder is not nearing actual dementia yet!

Community Caregiver

 

The information and discussion on geriatric prognostication was very valuable.

UCSF Third Year Resident in Internal Medicine

 

 

As an organization committed to quality improvement in health and human services, the UCSF Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program has adopted several innovative practices in our program operations and evaluation. These include:

  • Using a novel tiered-training approach to geriatrics-primary care integration that maximizes geriatrics impact and strengthens our health care workforce.
  • Managing all project operations in accordance with LEAN principles to maximize the value of structures and processes for our trainees and our funder, the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration.
  • Gathering theoretically supported evaluation data to provide transparent reporting and continuous quality improvement in our curriculum development, as well as our training implementation.