Preventative Care and Geriatric Assessments
Some presentations given at GAPNA 2016 include preventative and preemptive care discussions on topics like antimicrobial stewardship and advanced assessments of geriatric patients.
With the large and growing problem of antibiotic overuse, proven as well as new strategies should be implemented in order to improve the use and effectiveness of antimicrobials.
One Thursday a session titled “Antimicrobial Stewardship” reviewed interprofessional approaches to antibiotic stewardship. Leading, national expert Nimalie Stone, MD, MS, the Medical Epidemiologist for Long-term Care in the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention, along with Nicole Brandt, PharmD, MBA, CGP, BCPP, FASCP, and others elaborated on strategies such as the CDC Core Elements of antibiotic stewardship and effective quality improvement.
Preventative care and new geriatric assessments were also touched on at the conference. On Thursday, September 22nd, Pamela Z Cacchione, PhD, RN, CRNP, BC, and Carolyn K Clevenger, RN, DNP, CNP-BC, AGPCNP-BC, FAANP, unveiled an upcoming module for advanced practice nurses on the comprehensive geriatric assessment, focused on the frail individual with multiple conditions in their session titled “Advanced Assessment of Older Adults.”
Today, Dr Stone will speak again on the “Core Elements of Antimicrobial Stewardship.” She will discuss a number of strategies for establishing an antibiotic stewardship program in nursing homes as well as key practices to improve antibiotic use.
“Pre-Travel Health for Older Adults” will also be discussed today. Cynthia Gerstenlauer, ANP-BC, GCNS-BC, CDW, will talk about the infectious and non-infectious risks related to travel for the older adult, how to perform a comprehensive individualized risk assessment, and provide an overview of routine recommended, and required vaccines for travelers based on age and destination.—Amanda Del Signore
