Senior Adult Geriatric Educators as Mentors and Teachers in Interprofessional Education

Florida has the second largest population of older adults in the US. A comprehensive approach must be utilized in their care which includes attending to physical, social and emotional needs, ensuring a safe environment, and respecting autonomy, independence, and dignity. Complexities of aging require an interprofessional response. Health professions educators should provide opportunities for students to develop the competencies needed for collaborative practice while meeting the community needs. Interprofessional teams must include listening to the patient’s voice to determine what matters most to the older adult and place them at the center of the team. Older adults can educate learners regarding their needs and perspectives which is crucial to shared decision making and transformative learning.Implementation: This innovative approach includes partnering with Senior Adult Geriatric Educators serving as mentors for students and as part of the teaching team. Mentors are paired with a team of students from nursing, medicine, pharmacy and social work during the two 3-hour sessions. Mentors educate the students about generational misconceptions and offer suggestions to improve the future of healthcare for older adults. Students use the 5Ms (mobility, mind, medications, multicomplexity, and what matters most) of geriatrics as a framework for providing comprehensive care to older adults.Evaluation plan: All students complete a program evaluation and a reflective discussion. Mentors also complete a survey and provide feedback in a debriefing.Outcome(s) and significance: Program evaluation results demonstrate students gain greater appreciation of their roles and roles of their teammates, and better understanding of healthy aging behaviors. Mentor feedback has been overwhelmingly positive with all of them responding “strongly agree” to the statement: “I felt valued by my student team members as a SAGE mentor.” Further outcomes data will be shared in this session, which supports the use of connectivism and transformative learning theories in the design of this curricular activity.