Mini Residency in Geriatrics and Long-term Care for the Dental Team - October 2024

You will receive up-to-date medical, dental and practice management information to promote an age-friendly dental practice, including:

• fundamentals of geriatric medicine
• geriatric medical management issues (medical risk assessment; dementia care, etc.)
• oral effects of drug therapy, medication management, and avoiding drug-related complications
• treatment planning principles and strategies
• management of common ethical and legal issues (informed consent, advanced directives, etc.)
• recognition and management of potential elder abuse and neglect
• root caries management
• preventive dental care for older adults
• patient management tips to improve access to care and patient comfort and communications
• managing difficult patient behaviors
• safe patient transfer techniques
• communication and documentation systems (electronic and paper)
• designing and implementing dental programs for long-term care facilities and residents:
  • understanding the long-term care system and settings
  • state and federal dental regulations in long-term care
  • long-term care administration and staffing
  • designing an effective dental program (staffing, clinical delivery models and equipment)
  • contracts and financial management
  • quality assurance and program evaluation
  • integration of long-term care into private practice
  • writing effective nursing home orders
  • preventive care issues and staff inservice training
  • effective interaction with long-term care administrators, medical directors, and nursing staff

Why You Should Select the Geriatric Mini Residency at the University of Minnesota

1. The Geriatric Mini Residency is a university-based program that has been refined for over 30 years and has trained dental professionals from across the United States, Canada, and around the world
2. The Mini Residency is taught by an interprofessional faculty with extensive expertise in all aspects of geriatric care from across the health sciences
3. The University of Minnesota’s Oral Health Services for Older Adults Program is nationally known and has won the Geriatric Oral Health Care Award from the American Dental Association and the 2016 Innovation Award from LeadingAge, the national association of over 6000 non-profit aging services organizations
4. The program is conveniently scheduled on four consecutive days permitting minimal time away from home and practice

Learn How To

• Incorporate principles of medical management for older adults into the dental treatment plan
• Recognize common drug-related oral health problems and employ safe prescribing practices
• Manage root caries, preventive care and other common dental challenges in older adults
• Employ effective treatment planning principles and strategies
• Apply appropriate practices for informed consent, behavior management, interpretation of advance directives and other ethical and legal concerns in working with older adult patients
• Perform ergonomically sound and safe patient transfers from wheelchairs
• Improve accessibility and comfort of dental services for older adults
• Establish an effective dental program in long-term care facilities, including contracts, staffing, communication systems, and selection of clinical delivery systems
• Work effectively with long-term care administrators, medical directors, and nursing staff
• Document and bill appropriately for services provided in long-term care facilities
• Integrate long-term care into a private practice

Training Methods

Illustrated lectures, discussion, demonstrations, observation

Special instructions

All course participants will receive access to a shared Google folder with extensive course readings and reference materials.