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American Geriatrics Society 2017 Annual Scientific Meeting
The American Geriatrics Society (AGS), a leading, nationwide, not-for-profit society of geriatrics health care professionals, held its Annual Scientific Meeting from May 18-20 in San Antonio, TX, this year. Over 2500 professionals gathered to network and explore a range of topics related to the care of older adults. This year’s meeting was particularly special as the Society, founded in 1942, celebrated its 75th anniversary—three-quarters of a century pursuing its mission to provide leaders in geriatric medicine, advocate for patient-centered care policies, and advance geriatric research and care delivery.
James T Pacala, MD, MS, a past AGS president and a member since 1989, gave a 75th anniversary lecture commemorating the strides AGS has made since its inception. Dr Pacala took the audience on a nostalgic journey through the years (donning decade-appropriate accessories at the stage podium at each 10-year mark), detailing the biggest events in AGS history, the far-reaching influences of its members and leaders, and the AGS’s role in the political and medical climates of each decade.
Dr Pacala began with the inception of AGS in 1942 in Atlantic City, NJ, by Malford W Thewlis, MD, who Dr Pacala called “the George Washington of the AGS.” In a time when geriatrics was little discussed as a specialty, the AGS began with 30 members. Moving into the 1950s, the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society was launched, aiming to be the “flagship of the society” and “public voice for the advocacy of older adults.”
The Society began taking on a new role in the 1960s as the government took an interest in the older adult population; AGS members actively fought for the establishment of Medicare and Medicaid, even as the American Medical Association, at the time, was against it.
The 1970s and 1980s yielded great advances in geriatrics training programs and research in addition to milestones in geriatric medicine principles seen as basic today, such as functionally based interdisciplinary care in specialty units and fall risk indexes.
In the notable events of the 1990s, Dr Pacala made special mention of Gregg Warshaw, MD, current Medical Editor of Annals of Long-Term Care: Clinical Care and Aging, for his work as president of the then newly founded Association of Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs (ADGAP) and his pioneering role in expanding AGS’s impact.
The AGS continued to make headlines in the 2000s and 2010s, convening the Eldercare Workforce Alliance and then positioning itself in the thick of the action promoting what became the Affordable Care Act. Now at almost 6000 members and many more achievements than could fit into a one-hour presentation, the AGS seems firmly established as a leading organization in geriatric care. Dr Pacala ended on this tone in his lecture, saying of the Society, “We’re stronger than ever.”
Barriers to Shingles Vaccine in Long-Term Care Facilities
One presentation at the AGS Meeting collected data from four local long-term care facilities to examine the rate of and barriers to administration of the herpes zoster vaccine.
Deprescribing Protocol for PPIs, H2As in Nursing Home Settings
Two presenters at the AGS Meeting discussed how they developed and implemented an educational-based deprescribing intervention at nursing homes.
What DNH Orders Really Mean in Care Facilities
Researchers from Yale School of Medicine and the Connecticut area discussed how DNH orders are interpreted and used in real-world situations.
