Geriatric Medicine

Geriatric Medicine is the branch of medicine that focuses on health promotion and the prevention and treatment of disease and disability in later life

The PHC Division of Geriatric Medicine has a wide range of services spanning all of the acute sites within Providence Health Care.

Contact Information
Division of Geriatric Medicine
9B -1081 Burrard Street
Vancouver, B.C., V6Z 1Y6
Telephone: 604-806-8069
Email:gschmidt@providencehealth.bc.ca

Head
Dr. Amanda Hill, Acting Division Head

Members

Dr. Janet McElhaney, Professor

Dr. Amanda Hill, Clinical Associate Professor and Acting Head

Dr. Larry Dian, Clinical Associate Professor

Dr. Janet Kushner-Kow, Clinical Assistant Professor

Dr. Wendy Cook, Clinical Instructor
Dr. Phillip Lee, Assistant Professor
Dr. Janice Menezes, Clinical Instructor
Dr. Hetesh Ranchod, Clinical Instructor
Dr. Ima Alimoradi, Clinical Instructor

The following service complement is currently being offered at St. Paul's Hospital: Acute care unit, Geriatric Day Hospital, Geriatric Medicine Clinics, Geriatric Consultation Team, and Geriatric Outreach.

The following services are currently being offered at Mt. St. Joseph Hospital: Acute care unit, Geriatric Day Hospital, Geriatric Medicine Clinic, Geriatric Outreach, Geriatric Consultation Team, and Central Intake Services for Geriatric Medicine and Geriatric Psychiatry.

Currently, Holy Family Hospital offers services in Geriatric Rehabilitation, In-patient and Out-patient.

Based on the outcome of the Division Retreat in the spring of 2005, a process to determine opportunities for service redesign was initiated. Quality improvement initiatives have lead to reductions in the number of hospital days needed for rehabilitation of older adults and return to the community. An innovation in the geriatric consultation has been the development and current implementation of the Goal Responsive Acute Care for Older Elders (GRACE) Team, providing health-centred consultation through an interprofessional collaborative practice approach. Further service redesign is underway to identify patient needs across the points of care in the health care continuum where seniors are most at risk of functional decline. The Geriatric Triage Nurse role in the Emergency Department at St. Paul's and Mount St. Joseph Hospitals, is now being integrated with other roles within the interdisciplinary team including geriatricians and geropsychiatrists. These initiatives will enhance outcomes of hospital admission and/or discharge to the community as a part of the follow-up evaluation. Improvements in the integration of all geriatric inpatient and outpatient programs are anticipated.

Teaching
The PHC Division of Geriatric Medicine remains active in Undergraduate teaching and the reviews from the students have been very positive. Undergraduate teaching includes: Elective students (both in and out- of- province), Bedside Teaching for Physical Examination Skills & Clinical Skills, Academic Half Days, and Rounds & Lectures.

The PHC Division of Geriatric Medicine training program continues to be actively involved in the teaching of internal medicine residents and fellows in the principles of the care of the frail elderly. Our division members also participate actively in clinical teaching units, noon and grand rounds providing training to residents. Dr. Wendy Cook is the site leader for these activities and Dr. Janet Kushner-Kow is the UBC Director for both undergraduate and fellowship training programs for Geriatric Medicine. The inter-professional geriatrics educational program developed by our members continues to be used in universities and communities throughout British Columbia. Dr. Janice Menezes has led the educational component in geriatrics for the newly developed International Medical Graduate Program at SPH. Post-Graduate teaching includes: Bedside teaching, Noon Rounds and Grand Rounds to Internal Medicine & other Residents, Geriatric Medicine Fellows, Rotating Residents, and Family Practice & Community Physicians

For more information on Geriatric Medicine, please explore this useful website:

VITALiTY Research Centre   www.vitality.med.ubc.ca