Geriatric Medicine Academic Program

ACGME Accredited Hackensack University Medical Center is part of an education consortium that offers an ACGME-accredited combined fellowship in internal medicine/geriatrics.

The geriatrics fellowship program at Hackensack University Medical Center and its staff have received national and regional recognition for providing comprehensive, patient-centered geriatric care. Our students are central to our mission and receive valuable education and guidance from some of the nation’s leading geriatric specialists.

We emphasize an interdisciplinary team approach and provide care at a variety of sites, including acute care and long-term care, assisted living, rehabilitation facilities and hospice. Our teaching program includes a robust research component to prepare our students to advance within geriatric medicine and become leaders in the field. We have started an education consortium with all geriatrics fellowship programs in New Jersey, which is a unique educational model.

Geriatric Fellowship Program Overview

Geriatrics Fellowship 

• We train our geriatric fellows to provide human-centered, quality-driven, evidence-based, accessible care to the aging population and make academic contributions to the field of geriatrics, healthcare and our communities. 
• This one-year program offers two positions annually for board-eligible trainees in internal medicine and/or family medicine through the Rutgers-New Jersey Medical School Geriatrics Fellowship Program, which is entirely based at Hackensack University Medical Center. Fellows gain proficiency in geriatric medicine for board eligibility through extensive clinical training experiences in geriatrics across multiple sites of care, including acute, sub-acute, home, long-term, hospice, and assisted living.

Clinical Rotation

• Rotations include ambulatory care, inpatient care, Acute Care for the Elderly (ACE) unit, inpatient hospice, long-term and skilled nursing facilities, assisted living and home care. 
• Our fellows also receive training in Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regulations, coding and billing, quality improvement initiatives and clinical documentation.

Conferences

Our fellows have opportunities to participate in a variety of conferences, including:

• Fellowship Consortium (partnership and lecture series with all geriatric fellowship programs in New Jersey)
• Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Geriatrics Society
• New York Metropolitan Area Consortium to Strengthen Psychosocial Programming in Geriatric Fellowships
• Internal medicine board review
• Geriatric review syllabus sessions and board review
• Geriatric grand rounds
• Case conference
• Journal Club
• M&M rounds
• Ambulatory geriatric didactic session
• Geriatric board review
• Long-term care didactic session
• Quality assurance meetings

Community Outreach

• Our fellows participate in community outreach in partnership with several organizations, including the Health Awareness Regional Program, Alzheimer’s Association and local senior centers and long-term care facilities.

Administrative Communities

• Our faculty and fellows participate in several administrative communities, including the Geriatric Council, Trauma Service Line, Orthopedic Service Line, ER Service Line Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI) Service Line and the Performance Improvement Coordinating Committee (PICC).

Medical Students and Residents

• Geriatrics focuses on the acute, subacute, chronic and preventive health care issues of the elderly. Clinical exposures are provided at multiple settings, including nursing homes, assisted living facilities, senior centers as well as ambulatory and acute inpatient care. Trainees become knowledgeable in the importance of providing care for the geriatric patient that is compassionate, appropriate and effective.

Trainees

• Rutgers-New Jersey Medical School internal medicine third year residents
• Rutgers-New Jersey Medical School third- and fourth-year students elective
• St. George’s University third-year geriatric clerkship students mandatory core rotation
• St. George’s University fourth-year student elective

Educational Opportunities in Geriatric Medicine

The Division of Geriatric Medicine offers a variety of educational opportunities for healthcare professionals, including:

• Elective rotations for medical students, ANP, PA and psychology students. The Division of Geriatric Medicine offers elective rotations to medical students — as well as other clinicians such as APN, PA and psychology students — allowing them to learn in an interdisciplinary environment.
• Geriatrics education and training for internal medicine residents. To address the growing shortage of geriatric care providers and improve the future of geriatric care, we offer geriatric medicine as part of residency training. The Division of Geriatric Medicine provides one-month rotations to internal medicine residents from New Jersey Medical School/Rutgers. The division also offers geriatrics electives for residents at other institutions when requested.