AGS 2012 Annual Meeting Preview

Meeting the complex needs of older patients in long-term care (LTC) is challenging. Older adults in LTC often have multiple morbidities and take several medications, increasing the risk of drug interactions and adverse effects. They frequently transition between providers, an ongoing hurdle for staff at LTC facilities. Other pressing concerns include minimizing workforce turnover, identifying ways to evaluate and ensure the quality of care, determining how to incorporate promising research findings into practice, and ensuring compliance with ever-changing regulations.

Given these challenges and the vital importance of LTC, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) 2012 Annual Scientific Meeting will include a broad range of sessions that focus on clinical issues, research, training, public policy, and care delivery models particularly relevant to the field. The meeting will take place in Seattle, Washington, from May 3 through May 5, with preconference sessions held on May 2. Symposia, workshops, and lectures will be headed by leading experts in geriatric care, and many of the sessions offer continuing education credit. The following is a sample of sessions highly relevant to those working in LTC.

Best Practices to Manage Behavioral Manifestations of Dementia: Addressing the Overuse of Antipsychotics. This symposium will differentiate between appropriate and inappropriate uses of antipsychotic drugs among older adults, examining their safety and side effects in this population and the risks of using these drugs in older patients with comorbidities. The session will cover alternative treatments—touch, dietary changes, changes in lighting—for dementia-related behaviors that are often treated unnecessarily with antipsychotics. The symposium will highlight strategies for training LTC and home-care staff and family caregivers to use these alternative approaches when appropriate. For more information on this issue, see the AGS Guide to the Management of Psychotic Disorders and Neuropsychiatric Symptoms of Dementia in Older Adults at https://americangeriatrics.org.

Patient Safety Across the Care Continuum: AHRQ Tools and Research. During this session, administrators and investigators from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) will discuss evidence-based approaches for improving patient safety in institutions and the home, which were developed as part of the agency’s Patient Safety Initiative. Speakers will examine communication issues and related challenges that can hamper efforts to prevent falls and will discuss other safety initiatives in nursing homes. The session will also examine safety in home-healthcare, including the development and implementation of the agency’s new household safety checklist.

Medication Safety: Patient- and Systems-Level Approaches to Reducing Medication Errors and Adverse Drug Reactions. This panel session will review the scope and magnitude of medication errors and adverse drug reactions in older adults and provide an overview of strategies for improving safety. Speakers will identify common medication errors during healthcare transitions and protocols for correcting these errors across the care continuum. They will also discuss strategies for ensuring medication safety in patients with comorbidities and among elderly veterans.

Reducing Hospital Readmissions and All-Cause Harm. This symposium will feature an overview of community- and provider-based strategies for reducing hospital readmissions and unnecessary hospital transfers and admissions of older patients. Attendees will learn about successful approaches for improving care transitions and reducing unnecessary hospital transfers from post-acute settings and nursing homes. Attendees will also learn about the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ national “Partnership for Patients” campaign to reduce hospital readmissions and all-cause harm.

Cancer in Long-Term Care. This workshop will identify various types of patients with cancer in LTC and provide a framework for clinical decision-making when caring for these patients. The session will examine the inherent challenges of caring for older patients with cancer in nursing homes, including how to weigh the benefits and risks of standard therapy for this vulnerable population. Speakers will review current screening guidelines and how they apply to aging LTC patients. Over the course of the workshop, participants will develop proficiency in interpreting cancer survival data for patients with other life-limiting geriatric conditions, explaining the benefits and burdens of cancer screening for LTC residents, and talking clearly and openly about prognosis and life expectancy with residents and their families.

Data Sanity–Quality Improvement in the Nursing Home Using Statistical Process Control. Designed to help attendees implement better quality-improvement initiatives in their LTC facilities, this session will cover variation and the basics of statistical process control and how it can be used to enhance care. Participants will learn how to improve the in-depth evaluation of data analysis processes and apply statistical analysis to enhance performance and quality.

The sessions described represent only a sample of those likely to be of interest to LTC professionals. In addition to cutting-edge lectures, workshops, symposia, and paper and poster sessions highlighting the latest research findings in geriatrics, the meeting provides invaluable networking opportunities, with a special session dedicated to networking in LTC slated for May 4.

The AGS Annual Meeting is the premier educational event in geriatrics. To learn more and to register, visit the meeting Website at www.americangeriatrics.org. We look forward to seeing you in Seattle!