Students from the Florida Atlantic University Colleges of Medicine, Nursing, and the School of Social Work learned and worked collaboratively with a Senior Aging Geriatrics Education (SAGE) Mentor team visits at local independent living facilities on Nov. 15. During the visit, the students met the mentor and elicited a background history. The overall objectives of the SAGE Mentor visits are 1) to acquire knowledge, skills, and attitudes related to healthy aging and geriatrics in an Interprofessional Education team framework and 2) to use interprofessional education and evidence-based collaborative practices to build and maintain effective communication by demonstrating the ability to listen actively, and encourage ideas and opinions of other team members and SAGE mentors.

 

Dr. Jo Ann Bamdas, director of the Office of Interprofessional Office at FAU, organized and supervised the activity, which was well received by all the students and mentors.  The students will meet with their SAGE mentors two more times during the next semester to complete other learning goals including: 1) eliciting geriatric medical screening and assessment and 2) conducting a home and medicine safety evaluation.  Faculty from the College of Medicine (Peter Averkiou, Dawn Sherling and Mario Jacomino), College of Nursing (Lenny Chiang-Hanisko, Beth King, and Lisa Wiese), the School of Social Work (Ellen Ryan, Georgia Brown, Everiste Ambris, and Joy McClellan) facilitated the activity with the students.  

To date this school year, the College's Office for Diversity and Inclusion has hosted four FAU campus events with our affiliate schools. About 170 guests from FAU High, Boynton Beach High School, and Lake Worth and Roosevelt middle schools have been guided through dissections and cases by 40 medical student volunteers. The Diversity Office is grateful for the medical students dedicating hours of their limited personal time to mentor these high-achieving, diverse students. This month, t he Diversity Office looks forward to beginning the Anatomy Lab PBL cases involving the cadavers. These labs are an unprecedented opportunity for middle and high school students to view the systems they are studying in school on a human specimen. The labs also enable medical students to reinforce their understanding of human anatomy through teaching.

A Quality Improvement Project in Adult Immunization has been chosen as one of the resident programs to participate in the "I Raise the Rates Resident Program Competition." This is a national competition sponsored by the ACP Quality Connect, the American College of Physicians Center for Quality Division. Dr. Joseph Chang and Dr. Daniel Silovitz will be the resident leaders on the project. 

Dr. Henry Haire will be the lead faculty member and will be working with them on summarizing 2015 data, which led to the development of two single sheets for Men's and Women's Preventive Wellness. These sheets include immunization as a quality measure and since their implementation, vaccination rates have significantly increased at the centers in which they are being utilized.