Geriatric Practice Leadership Institute (GPLI): An Age-Friendly Program

Purpose

According to the Institute of Medicine, immediate steps must be taken to educate and train both the current and future health care workforce to work collaboratively in addressing the diverse needs of the growing older adult population. Most healthcare professionals had very little education or clinical training in the care of older adults nor the most effective ways to work as a clinical team.

Methods

The Geriatric Practice Leadership Institute (GPLI) is a collaboration between two universities providing interprofessional teams of early and mid-career professionals with the skills and knowledge needed to leverage leadership skills to effectively work within interdisciplinary teams to provide age-friendly care to older adults. The GPLI incorporates the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Age-Friendly Health Systems 4Ms’ Framework into the training.

The GPLI is an on-line, team-based program which engages 5-7 teams each session. Module topics include Age-Friendly Health Systems, organizational culture, leading self, leading interprofessional teams, and quality improvement. Additionally, teams select and complete a quality improvement project based on the Age-Friendly Health Systems 4Ms and submit final report and presentation. The teams are also assigned a coach for support. Continuing education credits and a micro-credential are available to participants. Participants complete a survey following the completion of the program.

The GPLI has been funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program grant (numberU1QHP2873), which currently covers all costs for participants.

Results

The GPLI has trained over 175 healthcare professionals during the past 7 years with teams representing ambulatory to emergency responder organizations. Participants were all asked to complete a survey to gauge the program's success. When asked about how valuable the information was in the program in a post-completion survey, 100% of participants answered 'very’ or 'extremely’ valuable. Additionally, all participants answered either 'very’ or 'extremely’ valuable when asked how useful their executive sponsor was in supporting their team's involvement and project.

Conclusion

After many years of offering the program, many lessons have been learned, and consistent themes have emerged from the teams who have been the most successful. These include team representation from all levels of the organization, a focus on culture change, and flexibility to change and adjust, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.