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The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) is a nationwide not-for-profit association of geriatrics health care professionals, research scientists, and other concerned individuals dedicated to improving the health, independence, and quality of life of all older people.
Goals of the AGS Continuing Professional Education Program
The Society has set forth the following goals for its professional education programming:
- To increase the number of health care professionals who are knowledgeable about and participate in the clinical care of older adults and aging research
- To conduct education programs for all professionals that promote better understanding of the aging process and its unique clinical and research challenges.
Purpose
The Society, though its Continuing Professional Education Program, seeks to increase the geriatrics expertise of healthcare professionals who care for older adults and who conduct aging research by providing high quality educational programs that address topics that are integral to the care of older adults and aging research.
Oversight
The Professional Education Executive Committee (PEEC) oversees the Society's continuing professional education program. This interdisciplinary group is responsible for ensuring that the continuing medical education programs that are sponsored, jointly sponsored, or co-sponsored by the Society are conducted in compliance with the standards of the relevant accrediting agencies, including the Accreditation Council for Continuing Education's 2006 Updated Essentials Areas and their Elements and Policies and its 2004 Updated ACCME Standards for Commercial Support: Standards to Ensure the Independence of CME Activities. The PEEC sets overall policy for the Society's Continuing Professional Education Program and oversees all aspects of implementation, including appropriate needs assessment and evaluation of programs sponsored or jointly sponsored by the Society. The PEEC reports to the AGS Board of Directors.
Content Areas
The content of the AGS' continuing professional education program is focused on improving healthcare professional knowledge of and ability to treat the common diseases and disorders of older adults and to the advancement of aging research and the translation of research to clinical practice.. Specific topics on which the Society's educational programming is focused include:
General Principles of Aging
(demography of aging, biology of aging, psychosocial aspects of aging, pharmacology, legal and ethical issues, and health care finance)
Approach to the Older Patient
(hospital-based and community-based geriatric care, nursing home care, geriatric assessment, preventive geriatrics, physical activity, rehabilitation, palliative care, and complementary and alternative medicine, culturally competent care, systems of care, home care)
Geriatric Syndromes
(dementia, delirium, urinary incontinence, hearing and vision impairment, malnutrition, eating feeding problems, osteoporosis and osteomalacia, falls and gait disturbances, dizziness syncope, pressure ulcers, and sleep disorders)
Geriatric Psychiatry
(depression and other mood disorders, anxiety disorders, psychotic disorders, personality/somatoform disorders, substance abuse, and mental retardation)
Common Geriatric Diseases, Disorders, and Health Care Concerns
(cardiovascular diseases/disorders, hypertension, musculoskeletal diseases/disorders, back pain, diseases/disorders of the foot, neurologic diseases/disorders, infectious diseases, respiratory diseases/disorders, oral diseases/disorders, gastrointestinal diseases/disorders, endocrine/metabolic disorders, diabetes, hormone replacement therapy, gynecologic diseases/disorders, disorders of sexual function, hematologic diseases/disorders, oncology, renal diseases/disorders, prostate disease, dermatologic diseases/disorders)
Aging Research
The Society will also work with organizations that have developed educational programming in other content areas as long as the need for such programming is supported by an appropriate needs assessment.
The Society also sponsors educational programs that are aimed at improving the knowledge and teaching skills of healthcare professionals involved in training older adults.
Validation of Content
Continuing Professional Education Programming regarding clinical recommendations must be based on evidence that is accepted within the profession of medicine as adequate justification for their use. All scientific research referred to, reported or used in support or justification of a patient care recommendation must conform to the generally accepted standards of experimental design, data collection and analysis.
Types of Programming
The Society offers both enduring and live continuing professional education programs. The two major, on-going continuing education activities of the Society are: Annual Scientific Meeting and the Geriatrics Review Syllabus, a self-assessment program in geriatrics. It also offers seminars, workshops, audiotapes, other self-assessment programs on specific topics, and jointly sponsors Conferences developed by its state affiliates.
Target Audience
The audience for the Society's Continuing Professional Education Program is for health care professionals who care for older adults and who conduct aging research.
Expected Result of the Program
Through its programs in Continuing Professional Education, the Society seeks to improve the competence of health care professionals to provide quality health care to older adults. We do this by providing balanced, evidence-based content in order to assist in improving their knowledge and skills as health care professionals. We anticipate that participants in our programs will integrate educational resources into their clinical, research and professional practices. We continue to develop ways to assess the actual impact our educational programs have on clinical practice.
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