Workforce Program at URI Aims to Improve Senior Healthcare

The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration has granted University of Rhode Island (URI) Professor Phillip Clark $3.75 million to improve health services for seniors, reports the Westerly Sun . URI's Rhode Island Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program will support a five-year initiative to better train healthcare providers and combine primary and geriatric care. "The idea is to transform the care system for older adults and improve quality and outcomes," Clark said. The effort will bring together professionals in live presentations, webinars, and real-time case discussions, with one program involving videoconferencing to train primary care doctors, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, and other clinicians on geriatrics. The program is scheduled to begin in early 2020, and Clark is recruiting healthcare groups to direct and participate in sessions, concentrating on teamwork. The aim is to train more than 5,000 current and future clinicians during the project. Among the topics that presentations will cover are fall prevention, multiple medication prescribing, and dementia care, while continuing education credits will be available for select healthcare professionals. "We'll evaluate the result of the educational programs on changing provider clinical behavior," Clark added.