The Division of Geriatric Medicine at Penn State College of Medicine is engaged in a multi-year grant in partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Health on the Long-Term Care Resiliency, Infrastructure Supports, and Empowerment (LTC-RISE) grant-funded initiative, which aims to help long-term care facilities weather and overcome the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The work promotes high quality front line long-term care staff education, along with leadership training, infection control support and emergency management preparation. The RISE grant includes collaboration with the Tressa Nese and Helen Discevich Center for Geriatric Nursing Excellence and the Smeal College of Business at Penn State. Learn more about the Southcentral LTC-RISE team here.
In 2024, Geriatric Medicine will be a site lead at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in partnership with the Tressa Nese and Helen Discevich Center for Geriatric Nursing Excellence on an NIH study on delirium in hospitalized older adults titled, “READI-SET-GO: Research Efficient Approaches to Delirium Identification-Sustaining an Effective Translation to Create Gero-Friendly Organizations.” This study is investigating the use of a two-step delirium identification screening in hospitalized older adults.
Through the Harry Albertman Endowment, the Division of Geriatric Medicine provides opportunities to apply competitively for funding to advance innovation in geriatric clinical care and to collaborate with clinician-researchers in other divisions who do research that is relevant to aging.
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Leadership
Nicole Osevala, MD
In 2020, Osevala led a multimillion-dollar Department of Human Services grant to address COVID-19 outbreaks in central Pennsylvania nursing homes. Following this, she led the Pennsylvania Department of Health-funded RCAT (Regional Congregate Care Assistance Team) for the South Central region, and now leads a multi-year grant RISE (Resiliency, Infrastructure Supports, and Empowerment) to advance quality improvement and emergency preparedness initiatives in long-term care communities and providers in South Central PA.
Clinically, Osevala led the formation of the Penn State Health post-acute care program, which serves nine nursing homes in the region with a team of seven physicians and eight advanced practice providers. In 2020, under Osevala’s leadership, the Division of Geriatric Medicine was formed, and it has grown to include inpatient geriatric consultation services, outpatient geriatric primary care and consultation, including home visits, and a “SNF at home” home recovery care + program known as HRC+.
Osevala plans to leverage the multi-disciplinary expertise in geriatrics and care for older adults across Penn State Health, the College of Medicine and University to advance research, education, clinical resources and community support.
Fellows Research
During the one-year Geriatric Medicine Fellowship, fellows complete a quality-improvement research project where they identify with a mentor a potential gap in care provided in the outpatient, long-term care or acute care setting. Together with a mentor, they develop a simple QI proposal. They spend the first few months implementing an intervention and ascertaining its effectiveness with a goal of submitting/presenting a poster abstract at an annual meeting and submitting a brief report for publication. In 2023, fellows presented their projects at two national meetings, AMDA-PALTC 23 and the American Geriatrics Society 2023 annual meeting.
National Conference Presentations
Contact the Division
To speak to someone about geriatric medicine research, please email Nicole Osevala, MD, at nosevala@pennstatehealth.psu.edu.