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Elder Mistreatment

Terry Fulmer, Ph.D., RN, FAAN
New York University
College of Nursing

About this Manual

 

Health professionals and allied health workers need to know and recognize the clinical indicators of elder mistreatment (EM) and need to know what actions to take if they suspect EM. However, many healthcare professionals are not aware that EM even exists, and few are actually trained to screen and assess for EM. Understanding cultural competency is essential to any EM training. Different cultures perceive aging and care-giving differently and this has important implications for the way EM is viewed, assessed and treated.

Trainees We Want to Reach

  • Nurses
  • HealthServices Administrators
  • Clergy
  • Physicians
  • Psychologists
  • Pharmacists
  • Rehabilitation Therapists
  • Social Workers
  • Community Practitioners and Care Providers
  • Dentists
  • Geriatric Care Managers

Elder Mistreatment Overview

 

In 1992, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Louis Sullivan created a major paradigm shift when he deemed EM a health issue as opposed to a law and order issue. Available data since then have shown EM is a serious and widespread problem affecting between 700,000 - 1.2 million Americans annually. {Pillemer & Finkelhor 1988 #4102} Concern over the capacity of clinical care providers to recognize and address EM will increase as the number of cases grows as baby boomers age. The diversity of the healthcare workforce and the role in modern health care systems demand a concerted effort to diagnose and manage elder mistreatment across the care continuum.

Objectives of the EM program at NYUCN

Establish a flexible program of educational & training opportunities for clinicians and health care personnel caring for older persons on the detection and management of elder mistreatment.

TRAINEES WE WANT TO REACH
  • Clergy
  • Health Services Administrators
  • Nurses
  • Physicians
  • Psychologists
  • Pharmacists
  • Rehabilitation Therapists
  • Social Workers
  • Community Practitioners and Care Providers
  • Dentists
  • Geriatric Care Managers

Goals

  • A culturally-competent curriculum disseminated widely for teaching New York State health, allied health professionals and others about EM.
  • A new baseline for culturally-competent training in EM rigorously evaluated, available nationally.
  • Internet Web site on EM with resources for learning and training on EM.
  • Repository of educational resources and information on EM: Faculty and Current information about key topics related to EM readily available for training activities.
  • Distance learning program for Self Instruction on Clinical Assessment of EM consisting of regularly updated instructional modules addressing specific aspects of EM.

Core Program

 

Content

  • Concepts of elder mistreatment
  • Clinical recognition of elder mistreatment
  • Research on elder mistreatment
  • Legal aspects of elder mistreatment
  • The care continuum and elder mistreatment
  • Contemporary elder mistreatment theories
  • Clinical documentation of elder mistreatment
  • The impact of elder neglect on clinical care
INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAM / CONTENT
  • Geriatric interdisciplinary team training (GITT) - A train-the-trainers program for exercising effective leadership in complex social environments. {Fulmer, Flaherty, et al. 2003 #7612}
  • Models for clinical team practice
  • Dynamics of interdisciplinary clinical teams
  • Case Studies in elder mistreatment
  • Team Assessment of elder mistreatment
  • The Elder Assessment Instrument (EAI) in Practice

Educational Resources on the Internet