Geriatrics

A healthcare provider helps an elderly patient.

About our teams

Age-Friendly Health Systems logo

Ambulatory Care

The OHSU Ambulatory Geriatrics Program provides primary and consultative care to older adults across the state of Oregon and beyond. All 12 of OHSU's Internal Medicine and Geriatrics Primary Care sites are recognized as an "Age-Friendly Health System – Commited to Care Excellence” by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.  This distinction notes that OHSU:

  •  Is guided by an essential set of age-friendly, evidence-based practices across the 4Ms (What Matters, Medication, Mentation, and Mobility);
  • Causes no harm; and
  • Is consistent with What Matters to the older adult and their family.

We are honored to receive this recognition! Thanks to all of our providers, care givers, and staff for contributing to our success.

Inpatient Geriatrics Care

The OHSU Inpatient Geriatrics Program has been providing high quality geriatric care for older adults admitted to our hospital since 2015. Our team of geriatric specialists works hand in hand with medicine and surgical teams to reduce the hazards posed to older adults from the hospital environment and to adapt their care to their unique needs. We work with interdisciplinary teams to coordinate ongoing care needs after the hospital and make connections to primary care and other outpatient specialists with the goal of a smooth transition home. We also advocate for and assist with individualized advance care planning to ensure the care received supports the goals of every patient and their loved ones. Our team works side by side with the Trauma Surgery program to provide integrated geriatric care for older adults with injuries. This novel collaboration has been cited by the American College of Surgeons’ Trauma Verification program as a unique and significant asset to OHSU’s Trauma Program. Our inpatient staff are sought after educators and champions of system improvements to enhance the care received by all older adults at OHSU. We are involved in developing new care pathways like the hip fracture standard of care, improving cognitive care via development of delirium treatment protocols adapted to specific patient populations and adapting our electronic medical record to support safer prescribing for older adults.

Long-Term Care

The OHSU Long-Term Care Program includes two skilled nursing and long term care/memory care sites – The Mirabella and Holladay Park Plaza. We have built collaborative work groups at each site with an emphasis on team building and communication between long term care staff, on-site providers, and hospital care management teams. We also have a 2 week curriculum for interns that focuses on transitions of care in and out of skilled nursing. We explore geriatric syndromes, deprescribing, implicit bias as it relates to age, and social determinates of health as they related to geriatric populations. We also serve as a primary continuity long term care preceptorship site for geriatric fellows.

In the news

Optimizing Nutrition in Aging: A Podcast with Anna Pleet, Elizabeth Eckstrom, and Emily Johnston. GeriPal Podcast. July 31, 2024. 

Rx for Elder Health Care: Geriatricians. Written by Jeanette Leardi. 3rd Act Magazine. Spring, 2024.

Why is inclusion so important? Why should we do our best to ensure appropriate inclusion?” Multiple Chronic Conditions in Research for Emerging Investigators. April 17, 2023.

Recent awards

OHSU Geriatrics Program: US News and World Report Best Hospitals for Geriatrics 2012-23

Health and Aging Policy Fellowship 2022-2023
        -Elizabeth Foy White-Chu

Research

Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program, 2024-2029
         -Laura Byerly, MD

Tideswell Emerging Leaders in Aging Scholarship
          -Suvi Neukam, DO, 2024
          -Laura Byerly, MD, Katie Shenning, MD, MPH 2023
          -Emily Morgan, MD 2022

Teaching

OHSU School of Medicine Continuing Professional Development 2024
           -Bronze CME Educator - Suvi Neukam, DO
           -Honored CME Educator - Emily Morgan, MD
OHSU School of Medicine: Preceptor of the Year Award, 2023
           -Lisa Miura, MD

Clinical

OHSU Internal Medicine Clinic - Excellence in Service, Faculty, 2024
                -Suvi Neukam, DO

Oregon Society of PAs – PA of the Year Award 2023
                -Jessica Wright, PA

American Academy of Physician Associates – Distinguished Fellow 2023
                -Jessica Wright, PA

OHSU Continuing Professional Development Clinical Star Award 2024
                -Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH
                -Emily Morgan, MD

Clinical faculty named “Top Medical Providers,” Portland Monthly Magazine, between 2020-2024
                -Nicholas Kinder, NP
                -Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH
                -Lisa Miura, MD
                -Jessica Wright, PA
                -Katie Drago, MD
                -Emily Morgan, MD

  1. Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program (HRSA)
    PI: Laura Byerly, MD

    Oregon GWEP’s goals are 1) offer Tribal and Rural practices training support that improves Oregon’s workforce capacity to provide age-friendly care including the development of AFHS designated primary care delivery sites; 2) develop and implement interprofessional age- and dementia-friendly education and training for Oregon’s health professions trainees and preceptors; and 3) develop and implement statewide training for supportive caregivers, direct care workers (particularly Community Health Workers), and primary care teams that highlights age-friendly and public health education that can improve the quality of life of older adults.

     
  2. POCUS in SNF
    PI: Emily Morgan, MD
    Funding to procure ultrasound technology requisite to introduce Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) in the skilled and long term care settings.
  1. Enhancing Foundational Geriatric Confidence and Attitudes for Rural Oregon Trainees through a Virtual Tele-Monitoring and Educational Platform
    PI: Suvi Neukam, DO
    Develop and implement a pilot virtually-based telemonitoring and educational program for interprofessional trainees in rural Oregon. The goal is to increase geriatric expertise of interprofessional trainees and enhance their desire to pursue a career working with older adults.

   4. A Novel Curriculum to Train Physician Assistant Students to Become Healthcare Leaders
        
PI: Jessica Wright, PA
        Designed curriculum for PA students to receive an introduction to leadership skills and assessed the impact
        of the pilot on comfort engaging in difficult conversations with a significant power differential, comfort
        using tools for healthcare system change, and comfort in being an effective listener.

  1. Burnett JR, De Lima B, Wang ES, et al. How Are We Teaching Advocacy? A National Survey of Internal Medicine Residency Program Directors. J Gen Intern Med. Published online May 6, 2024. doi:10.1007/s11606-024-08753-3. PMID: 38710862
  2. Vincenzo JL, Bergen G, Casey CM, Eckstrom E. Reframing Fall Prevention and Risk Management as a Chronic Condition through the Lens of the Expanded Chronic Care Model: Will Integrating Clinical Care and Public Health Improve Outcomes?. Gerontologist. 2024. doi:10.1093/geront/gnae035. PMID: 38666718
  3. De Lima B, Lindauer A, Eckstrom E. Age-Friendly Research: A Pilot Exploration of Tools to Facilitate Inclusion of Older Adults in Research. Gerontol Geriatr Med. 2024;10:23337214241236037. doi:10.1177/23337214241236037. PMID: 38435474
  4. Levander XA, VanDerSchaaf H, Barragán VG, Choxi H, Hoffman A, Morgan EA, Wong E, Wusirika R, Cheng A. The Role of Human-Centered Design in Healthcare Innovation: a Digital Health Equity Case Study. J Gen Intern Med. 2024 Mar;39(4):690-695. doi: 10.1007/s11606-023-08500-0. PMID: 37973709
  5. Edstrom KF, Fallah BD, Morgan EA. Age-Friendly Framework in Post-Acute and Long-Term Care: Implementing the 4Ms in Long-Term Care. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2024 Mar;25(3):408-409. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2023.10.026. PMID: 38042174
  6. Eckstrom E, Vincenzo JL, Casey CM, et al. American Geriatrics Society response to the World Falls Guidelines. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2024. doi:10.1111/jgs.18734. PMID: 38131656
  7. De Lima B, Nohner M, Drago K. Improving dose-related drug events among hospitalized older adults using a geriatric prescribing context. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2024;1-7. doi: 10.1111/jgs.18754. PMID: 38240187
  8. Patel N, De Lima B, Neukam S, Brown R, Eckstrom E. Prioritizing advance care planning in primary care clinics. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2024;72(2):613-615. doi:10.1111/jgs.18655. PMID: 37916656
  9. Gould LJ, Alderden J, Aslam R, et al. WHS guidelines for the treatment of pressure ulcers –2023 update. Wound Repair Regen. 2024:32(1):6-33. doi:10.1111/wrr.13130. PMID: 37970711
  10. Sileo KM, Reynoso G, Torok K, Moreno AN, Miura LN. Balancing Career Goals and Parenthood Desires: Results from a Survey of Undergraduate Pre-Health Students at a Hispanic-Serving Institution in Texas. J Am Coll Health. 2024 Jan 16:1-11. doi:10.1080/07448481.2023.2299420. PMID: 38227926
  11. Neilsen, L., Wilhelm, J. Mann, L., Neukam, S., Kraakevik, J. Implementing Extension of Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) Framework to Educate Rural Populations in Complex Parkinson Disease Management (P12-2.001). Neurology. 2023;100(17). doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000202171
  12. Kiyoshi-Teo H, De Lima B, Cohen DJ, Dieckmann N, Winters-Stone K, Eckstrom E. Motivational Interviewing for Fall Prevention (MI-FP) pilot study: Older Adults' readiness to participate in fall prevention. Geriatr Nurs. 2023;54:246-251. doi:10.1016/j.gerinurse.2023.09.017.  PMID: 37847939
  13. Loewenthal J, Berning MJ, Wayne PM, Eckstrom E, Orkaby AR. Holistic frailty prevention: The promise of movement-based mind-body therapies. Aging Cell. 2024;23(1):e13986. doi:10.1111/acel.13986. PMID: 37698149
  14. De Lima B, Lindauer A, Eckstrom E. Age-Friendly Research: promoting inclusion of older adults in clinical and translational research. J Clin Transl Sci. 2023;7(1):e200. doi:10.1017/cts.2023.627. PMID: 37830011
  15. Salas A, Boanca K, Purdy J, et al. Resident-led research: a quality improvement project to improve serious illness conversations. Gerontol Geriatr Educ. 2023:1-6. doi:10.1080/02701960.2023.2246406. PMID: 37561638
  16. Eckstrom E, Zauflik M, De Lima B. Matching enrolled trial participants to disease demographics: Using IRB submissions to identify opportunities for researcher training. J Clin Transl Sci. 2023;7(1):e114. doi:10.1017/cts.2023.539.
  17. De Lima B, Rowan E, Motulsky A, Morgan E. Primary care provider-led approach to deprescribing potentially inappropriate medications in older adults. Gerontol Geriatr Med. 2023. doi: 10.1177/23337214231158474