Development of a Hybrid Simulated Patient Experience to Practice Care of the Dying Older Adult.

Introduction: Care of the dying older adult includes critical skills that emerging physicians should master but are not consistently taught. Simulation has been shown to be an excellent tool for teaching these skills in a standardized fashion. Simulation allows direct observation to assess and provide learner feedback. Our goal was to develop a learning activity to practice skills caring for the older adult at the end of life and identify areas in need of improvement. Methods: We developed a hybrid simulation in which fourth-year medical students and internal medicine (IM) residents cared for a 70-year-old patient (Laerdal SimMan 3G) who was actively dying in the emergency department. He was accompanied by his wife (standardized patient) and a nurse (standardized role). Over the academic year 2012-2013, we observed and videotaped 83 fourth-year medical students and 22 first-year IM residents in this setting. We assessed the learners' completion of 15 tasks associated with good end-of-life care. Results: All learners demonstrated professional activity working with the nurse, and all medical students but one gave opioids appropriately for pain. Only 19% of the medical students appropriately disclosed the patient's status to the wife using the words death and/or dying, and only 50% of the IM residents did so. Discussion: We successfully developed a learning activity in which learners can practice their skills caring for the dying older adult. We also determined that there is opportunity for improvement concerning communication, especially with the use of the words death and dying.

Palliative Care of Urologic Patients at End of Life.

This article focuses on the issues facing patients with advanced and terminal urologic illness, from the framework of care planning based on defining patient-specific and family-specific goals of care, to palliative management strategies for common symptoms and syndromes that these patients and their families experience. This article also focuses on the management of common urologic issues that may arise in the course of care for all patients at the end of life, as well as the impact of these conditions on caregivers.

Development of an ambulatory geriatrics knowledge examination for internal medicine residents.

BACKGROUND: The number of older adults needing primary care exceeds the capacity of trained geriatricians to accommodate them. All physicians should have basic knowledge of optimal outpatient care of older adults to enhance the capacity of the system to serve this patient group. To date, there is no knowledge-assessment tool that focuses specifically on geriatric ambulatory care. OBJECTIVE: We developed an examination to assess internal medicine residents' knowledge of ambulatory geriatrics. METHODS: A consensus panel developed a 30-question examination based on topics in the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Certification Examination Blueprint, the ABIM in-training examinations, and the American Geriatrics Society Goals and Objectives. Questions were reviewed, edited, and then administered to medical students, internal medicine residents, primary care providers, and geriatricians. RESULTS: Ninety-eight individuals (20 fourth-year medical students, 57 internal medicine residents, 11 primary care faculty members, and 10 geriatrics fellowship-trained physicians) took the examination. Based on psychometric analysis of the results, 5 questions were deleted because of poor discriminatory power. The Cronbach α coefficient of the remaining 25 questions was 0.48; however, assessment of interitem consistency may not be an appropriate measure, given the variety of clinical topics on which questions were based. Scores increased with higher levels of training in geriatrics (P < .001). CONCLUSION: Our preliminary study suggests that the examination we developed is a reasonably valid method to assess knowledge of ambulatory geriatric care and may be useful in assessing residents.

Transient impact of automated glomerular filtration rate reporting on drug dosing for hospitalized older adults with concealed renal insufficiency.

BACKGROUND: Older adults with concealed renal insufficiency are at risk of medication dosing errors. It is not known whether automated estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) reporting is associated with reduced dosing errors in this population. OBJECTIVE: The goal of the present study was to examine the impact on prescribing patterns in older adults with concealed renal insufficiency for a variety of renally cleared medications before and after the addition of automated eGFR reporting. METHODS: We performed a retrospective chart review at a single tertiary academic medical center among hospitalized patients aged ≥ 70 years with concealed renal insufficiency. Data were examined from the months of July, December, and May before and after the hospital initiated automated eGFR reporting, in 2006-2007 and 2008-2009, respectively. Doses of selected renally cleared medications were classified as appropriate or inappropriate on the basis of published recommendations. Regression models were used to identify demographic, clinical, and care factors associated with dosing appropriateness. RESULTS: Before implementation of automated eGFR reporting, we observed 260 persons in whom 42.2% of relevant prescriptions were inappropriately dosed; after implementation, there were 280 subjects in whom 36.6% of relevant prescriptions were inappropriately dosed. The multivariable model suggested an overall trend toward less inappropriate dosing after automated eGFR reporting began, compared with rates before (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.75 [95% confidence interval: 0.52-1.07], P = 0.11). However, a gradient was observed as the academic year progressed. A marked reduction in the rate of inappropriate medication dosing was seen in July after initiation of eGFR reporting compared with the July before initiation (AOR = 0.28; P < 0.01). This effect was attenuated in December (AOR = 0.45; P = 0.05) and gone by May (AOR = 0.85; P = 0.67). CONCLUSION: Automated eGFR reporting alone, without any order entry intervention, was associated only transiently with improved dosing appropriateness for these older adults with concealed renal insufficiency.