Family Medicine Commons^™

Social Isolation: Impact On Physical And Mental Health, Alexa Waters, Md

Department of Family & Community Medicine Presentations and Grand Rounds

Learning Objectives

• Review the impact of social isolation and loneliness on important aspects of health and well-being, with a focus on older adults
• Review risk and protective factors for social isolation and loneliness
• Discuss how the health care system and primary care physicians can better identify and address social isolation
• Briefly highlight interventions to enhance social connectedness and reduce loneliness

Outline

• Background
• Impacts of social isolation and loneliness on health and well-being
• Risk and protective factors for social isolation and loneliness
• Role of the health system and primary care in addressing social isolation and loneliness
• Cases throughout

Primary Care Providers' Attitudes And Practices Regarding Cancer Screening In Older Adults., Randa Sifri, Brooke Salzman, Amy Cunningham, Alexis Silverio, Madalene Zale, Christine Talerico

Department of Family & Community Medicine Faculty Papers

Introduction: Cancer-screening decisions for older adults should be individualized. However, conducting such complex shared decisions may be challenging for primary care providers (PCPs). Additionally, there is little information on how PCPs make these decisions. This study consisted of a provider survey and chart review to assess current PCP approaches to breast and colorectal cancer (CRC) screening with patients age ≥75.

Methods: PCP survey questions: panel age, comfort with discussion of screening harms and benefits, screening decision-making process, and discussion style. One Hundred charts were chosen from a random sample of male and female patients ≥75 with a recent office …

Implementation Of A Volunteer Based Hospital Visitation Program For Older Adults, Mariana R. Kuperman, Md, Mph, Kristine Swartz, Md, Elizabeth Collins, Md, Jennifer Kim, Bs

House Staff Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Conference (2016-2019)

Background

Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP)¹: a multi faceted, volunteer led, hospital based program has been shown to:

• Reduce the incidence of delirium
• Decrease length of stay
• Reduce hospital costs

Implementation of such a program requires upfront investment.

A smaller, volunteer based visitation program for older adults was started to provide support for the allocation of hospital resources in delirium prevention and establishment of HELP in this institution.

This research aims to investigate the program’s implementation and impact on delirium specific outcomes.

Implementation Of A Volunteer-Based Hospital Program For Older Adults, Elizabeth Collins, Md, Kristine Swartz, Md

House Staff Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Conference (2016-2019)

Background

• A multi-faceted, volunteer-led, hospital-based program1has been shown to: •Reduce the incidence of delirium •Decrease hospital length of stay •Reduce hospital costs.
• Implementation of such a program requires upfront investment.
• A smaller, volunteer-based visitation program for older adults may provide support for the allocation of more hospital resources in delirium prevention and establishment of a formal Hospital Elder Life Program1in this institution.
• This research aims to investigate: •If the implementation of a visitation program is feasible at this hospital •Volunteer experience with the program.