Educational Programs

SGEC’s geriatric training programs for health professionals are offered in many formats and with many different emphases for different audiences. They all have in common the assumption that geriatric training for health providers should be done in the context of our diverse population of older adults. In the following tabs the major types of programs offered during the current funding cycle (2010-2015) are described.

Evidence Based Practice Training

Diabetes

As part of the SGEC consortium, nurses at the Community Health Partnership clinics at the Gardner Family Health Network (GFHN) are being trained in an Evidenced-Based Practice (EBP) protocol for diabetic care of patients 55+. This protocol will be implemented at five GFHN clinics to increase the number of older adults with diabetes receiving EBP chronic care management:

  • Alviso Health Center, Alviso, CA
  • CompreCare Health Center, San Jose, CA
  • Gardner Health Center, San Jose, CA
  • Gardner South County, Gilroy, CA
  • St. James Health Center, San Jose, CA

Depression

SGEC provides training for staff of Santa Clara County Department of Mental Health in the following Evidence Based Practices for depression among older adults:

  1. Training of service providers in the administration and interpretation of a commonly used questionnaire to assess depression (PHQ-9). Following the initial and follow-up training sessions (in person and supported by technology), it is anticipated that the PHQ-9 will become part of the County’s Electronic Medical Record system, which will greatly facilitate its use over time for patient assessment, treatment planning, and monitoring of progress.
  2. Training of staff in basics of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), a short-term evidence-based treatment for depression. SGEC trainers have developed a modified program to use for late-life depression that is also empirically supported. Staff from the various contracted county clinics apply for admission to the CBT training program, which is 5-month commitment. Providers are selected from a variety of disciplines including social work, psychiatry, marriage and family therapy and psychology. The program is modeled after the Veterans Administration national CBT training program. Didactic and experiential components include small group consultation to develop basic competency in CBT for late life depression.