Curriculum

Geriatric Medicine Fellowship

Clinical Environment

Most rotations are in the local community. The Fellow will spend time at Trinity Health Grand Rapids Hospital on the inpatient services of the Family Medicine (Residency) Service and/or Internal Medicine (Residency) teaching service. This provides the opportunity to work with many community physicians, as well as perform geriatric consultations and teaching to residents and medical students.

Longitudinal experiences in long term care will occur throughout the fellowship year under the preceptorship of local Trinity Health geriatricians in the community. Potential sites include the Clark Retirement Community, Holland Homes, and Beacon Hill Retirement Community. We are proud to collaborate with our home care program ACCP (Advanced care Coordination Program), as well as our hospice and palliative care fellowship program.

Geriatrics call is typically 1 in 6 days or five calls per month, covering phone calls only. It is not expected that fellows will provide in-person patient evaluations or consultations in long term care or hospital settings at night.

One half-day per week is spent in the geriatric continuity clinic at Beacon Hill with the Program Director.

Program Focus

Fellowship Year Rotations:

• Hospice and Palliative Medicine – 1 block (4 weeks)
• Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation – 1 block (4 weeks)
• Inpatient at St. Mary’s Health Care – 2 blocks (8 weeks)
• Geropsychiatry – 2 blocks (8 weeks) at Pine Rest Christian Mental Health and in community with local geropsychiatrist
• Sub-Acute Rehabilitation – 5 blocks (20 weeks)
• Memory Disorders – 1 block (4 weeks)
• Electives – 1 block (4 weeks)

Read more about Establishing an Academic Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology (PDF, 1.9MB)

Research

The Research Department has developed several tools and resources that will help residents and fellows develop ideas into manageable and realistic research projects. We have found that using these resources saves time and energy while avoiding typical pitfalls and dead ends. For example, the research project outline facilitates the translation of a good idea into a research project, provides the bulk of the narrative portion of IRB application and serves as the guide for implementing the project.

The Research Department provides support to fellows and faculty in all areas of research and scholarly activity (e.g., quality, educational, surveys).