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Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology & Palliative Care Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology & Palliative Care

Geriatrics Fellowship Program Facilities and Sample Schedule

The UC San Diego Geriatrics Fellowship Program provides a wide variety of quality clinical experiences.

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Facilities

UC San Diego Medical Center
Fellows complete a rotation in the geriatric psychiatry inpatient unit in Hillcrest, where they are introduced to acute and chronic cognitive and psychiatric problems encountered in hospitalized elderly patients. They also rotate on the new geriatrics trauma consult service, along with the palliative care service, in addition to population health and post-acute care visits at Skilled Nursing Facilities. We have recently added a new rotation at the UC San Diego Owen HIV Clinic.

UC San Diego Geriatric Medicine Clinic
Provides a continuity clinic experience for participating fellows. This outpatient clinic, located in La Jolla, is solely devoted to the care of patients age 65 and older and has six board-certified internists with sub-specialty certification (CAQ) in Geriatrics. This clinic provides primary care to patients, in addition to providing consults on medically complex patients.

VA San Diego Healthcare System
At the VA, fellows work with a geriatrics team o attendings uniquely positioned to provide supervision as patients transition from acute, consultative, sub acute, skilled, rehab, home, and hospice and palliative care, as appropriate. Fellows also complete a rotation within the VA Home-Based Primary Care (HBPC) Program, a home care program that provides comprehensive, interdisciplinary, longitudinal primary care in the homes of veterans with complex medical, social, and behavioral conditions for whom routine clinic-based care is not effective. The VA also provides a continuity clinic experience for fellows.

Silverado Senior Living, Encinitas
Silverado Senior Living is a residential care facility for older adults with dementia and functional impairment. Fellows learn how to provide care for an extremely frail population and enhance their skills in dementia care.

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The Elizabeth Hospice
During their rotation here, fellows visit and provide end-of-life care to patients in their home and other settings, as needed, and learn the basic services provided by hospice care. They also learn how to transition patients smoothly to hospice at the appropriate point in the patient's disease trajectory; develop important communication skills; and create strategies to lessen physical, emotional and spiritual pain.

Sample Schedule
Schedules may vary each year, with opportunities to tailor certain aspects to the interests of individual Fellows. Below is a sample overview:

Sample Schedule

Rotation Facility
3 months VA Community Living Center
6 weeks  VA Home-Based Primary Care
6 weeks Geriatric Psychiatry (UCSD and VA)
4 weeks UC San Diego Geriatric Trauma/ Geriatric Inpatient Consult Service (GICS)
2 weeks UC San Diego Palliative Care
2 weeks UC San Diego Owen HIV Care Clinic
4 weeks Elizabeth Hospice
4 weeks UC San Diego Electives (Tailored to Individual Interests; example:
Neuro/Wound/Osteoporosis/Sleep/Joint-Inject/Other)
2 weeks VA Palliative Care
2 weeks VA Community Living Center/Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNF)
2 weeks Program for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE)
Continuity Experiences
12 months Half-Day Continuity Clinics (VA and UCSD) - Weekly
12 months Silverado Memory Care Community - 1 Day/Month
12 months VA Home-Based Primary Care - Quarterly