Geriatrics Fellowship

In association with the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine Department of Family Medicine, Marquette General launched a Geriatric Family Medicine Fellowship program in 2011. Accredited by the ACGME, this one-year program admits one family medicine residency graduate per year. With completion, the fellow will be qualified to take the Geriatric Medicine Certification examination jointly sponsored by the American Board of Family Medicine and the American Board of Internal Medicine. Success in the examination earns the Certificate of Added Qualification (CAQ) in Geriatrics.

 

This curriculum is centered on direct experiences with the geriatric population who are ambulatory or living with help in their own home, living in an assisted living facility or in skilled nursing facilities. Rotations provide experience with geriatric multi-disciplinary assessment, gero-psychiatry, neurology, rehabilitation, hospice care, inpatient consultations and ambulatory geriatric care. As Geriatricians often work within multidisciplinary teams including pharmacists, nurses, physical, occupational, speech and recreation therapists, chaplains, care aides and others, development of leadership skills and team function are woven throughout the curriculum. An understanding of the role of medical director of a skilled nursing facility will be developed by working with physicians in those roles and with facility administrators to understand federal regulations of these facilities and operations.

 

To maintain the broad skills of a family physician, the geriatric fellow will maintain care of a small panel of patients of all ages in the family medicine office throughout the year.