The COVID-19 Geropsychiatry Rounds: A Curriculum for Healthcare Providers

Abstract

Older adults’ mental health needs significantly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Geriatric psychiatry is an area of extreme workforce shortage globally. A novel curriculum was developed to educate healthcare providers on COVID-19-related geriatric and geropsychiatry topics. Monthly lectures were presented from November 2020 to June 2021. Evaluations were collected after each lecture via an anonymous survey. Overall lecture quality and relevance for the participants’ clinical practices were rated on a 1-3 Likert-type scale. 217 participants attended lectures; 72 evaluations were collected (33% response rate). Overall lecture rating score was 2.82 ± 0.38 and relevance score was 2.77 ± 0.45. The curriculum was well received and relevant to participants. Future studies should collect more details regarding participants’ clinical practices. To our knowledge, this is the first COVID-19-related geriatric psychiatry curriculum developed to educate healthcare providers and empower them to care for older adults during the pandemic.