Geriatrics

Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Care Medicine

New York Hospital Queens
56-45 Main Street
Flushing, NY 11355

Program Director

Contact the Coordinator:

Sandra Cardenas-Arroyave

Phone  (718) 670-2413
Fax  (718) 670-2456
Email sac9026@nyp.org 

Graduate Medical Education at New York Hospital Queens | Salary and Benefits | Policies and Procedures | Graduate Staff Agreement | Patient Simulation Center | Lang Research Center | Queens: Our Community | Celebrating Diversity |

About the Program

The New York Hospital Queens (NYHQ) geriatric fellowship program is a combined program, conducted jointly by New York Hospital Queens and Silvercrest Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation. The program accepts three fellows each year. The Geriatrics Fellowship is one of six fellowships at NYHQ. NYHQ is an affiliated teaching hospital of Weill Cornell Medical College, and offers fellowships in Cardiology, Pulmonary/Critical Care, GI, Renal, Infectious Disease. Our Geriatrics Fellowship is one of premier geriatrics fellowships in the Queens-Long Island area. One of the unique features of our program is the strong training in palliative care. The NYHQ Geriatrics Fellowship program acknowledges the full spectrum of aging, including patients who are successfully aging, living with multimorbidity and chronic illness, experiencing frailty, and who are coping with terminal illness.

Goals of the Program

The primary goal of this one-year geriatric program is to train future clinical geriatricians with an interest in academic medicine, especially clinician educators.  This program is outstanding in its breadth and diversity of its educational experiences, training sites, and faculty.

1. Clinical: Fellows are expected to acquire clinical expertise in providing patient centered care for geriatrics patients and their family/caregivers. With supervision from dedicated preceptors in multiple clinical settings, fellows acquire skills that span the continuum of care for the elderly: acute care hospital, skilled nursing facility, outpatient practice, the patient’s home, transitional care unit, palliative care and hospice care. All settings are geographically convenient, yet set in ethnically distinct communities. Fellows will spend the year allocated equally among three major rotations (hospital, skill nursing facility, and ambulatory care/transitional care).  Faculty members include specialists in Geriatrics, Palliative Care, interdisciplinary faculty and subspecialties.
2. Education/Teaching: Fellows participate actively in a variety of educational experiences, including journal club, fellow-led presentations and conferences, and didactic lectures. The goal is to build on fellows’ knowledge and skills in disseminating knowledge about geriatrics, medical education, and community/public education.  Fellows take an active role teaching internal medicine residents, medical students, and interdisciplinary team members.
   1. Geriatrics Fellows actively supervise and teach all senior medical residents during their mandatory geriatrics rotation (4 weeks).
   2. Geriatrics Fellows provide noon conference presentations to medicine residents through a faculty-fellow co-teaching model.
   3. Geriatrics Fellows have the opportunity to provide community education about geriatrics topics to local residents.
3. Research/Performance Improvement: The fellow participates in research and performance improvement projects. All fellows are expected to participate in a research project related to their area of interest, and present an abstract at the annual American Geriatrics Society meeting. Fellows also network with peers and faculty via the Metropolitan Area Geriatrics Society (website link) and the Cornell Consortium on Psychosocial Training for Geriatrics Fellows (website link).  Fellows actively participate in unit-based performance improvement projects both at NYHQ and Silvercrest.

Training Sites and rotations

1. New York Hospital Queens (NYHQ): The New York Hospital Queens is one of the major teaching hospitals of Weil Medical College of Cornell University. The fellow rotating in NHYQ rounds with the geriatrics and palliative care attendings on a daily basis. The fellow participates in interdisciplinary team rounds, provides geriatrics and palliative care consultation to patients of other services under the supervision of geriatrics and palliative care attendings. Fellows will learn how to evaluate and manage common medical and psychosocial problems of acutely hospitalized geriatric patients, to coordinate the care of complicated geriatric cases, to prevent and manage iatrogenic illness, to provide palliative care to seriously ill patients, and other aspects in geriatric hospital medicine.  During the NYHQ rotation, fellows also conduct journal clubs and teach housestaff about geriatrics topics during noon conferences. 
2. Silvercrest Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation (SCNR):  The 320 bed Silvercrest Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation (SCNR) (www.silvercrest.org), located approximately 3 milesfrom the NYHQ main campus, provides the Geriatric Fellow with ample exposure to all facet of geriatric skilled nursing care. Distinct faculty-supervised rotations are provided on the Sub-acute Rehabilitation Unit, Secured Dementia Unit, Ventilatory Care Unit, as well as traditional long-term care units. Each fellow is assigned a panel of long-term care patients that he/she will follow longitudinally throughout the entire one year fellowship. Fellows are encouraged to participate in the many interdisciplinary meetings designed to meet theunique medical and psychosocial needs of each individual patient. Fellows will also have the opportunity to interact with the many clinical specialties involved in the care of their patients, including Speech Language Pathology, Audiology, Physical/Occupational Therapy,Social Services, Neurology, Gero-Psychiatry, Clinical Pharmacology, Infectious Disease/Antibiotic Stewardship, Pulmonary Medicine and Respiratory Therapy, Palliative and Hospice Care. The complex administrative and ethical issues unique to long-term care will be addressed via a series of didactic presentations, as well as participation in actual committee meetings throughout the year.
3. Ambulatory Care/Home Care/Hospice Care/Transitional Care: Geriatrics is a primary care specialty. Fellows have 2 half-day geriatric clinics of the NYHQ per week throughout the year under the supervision of faculty geriatricians. Fellows also rotate in geriatrics private practice offices as well as NYHQ’s Neurology and Rheumatology clinics under the supervision of a specialist.  In addition, fellows have hospice  and home care experiences through programs of the New York Visiting Nurse Service. Fellows on the ambulatory carerotation also provide geriatrics assessment and screening with patients in our new Transitional Care Unit.

Summary

In summary, we provide a well-rounded geriatrics fellowship experience, with strong palliative care training, with a full spectrum of clinical sites, diverse patient populations, and team based approach.  In addition, we support fellows in their research and teaching activities.  We are fully invested in the success of our geriatric fellows.

Application

Starting from 2014, our geriatrics fellowship will participate in the NRMP match.

Submit the following:

• Completed application using ERAS (preferred) or paper application
• Curriculum vitae
• Three Letters of Recommendation from peers/colleagues who are personally acquainted with your current competence. One of the letters must be from the Director of your current or most recent Clinical training program.
• Personal Statement:  Please state the reason for your interest in this program.  The statement must describe your purpose, objectives, clinical and research interests, and goals. In addition, please indicate your long-term goals (what you would like to be doing in five years)
• Medical School Diploma
• Copy of all published work
• Residency Certificate
• Copy of ECFMG certificate, if applicable
• Copy of visa or green card, if applicable

More about the Hospital

More about the Graduate Medical Education programs