Geriatric Fellowship

How to Submit

All applications and evaluations must be submitted through the online portal by 5pm Central Time on the deadline. If the deadline falls on a holiday or weekend, applications will be accepted on the next business day.

Apply Now

 

New Application Deadline: March 31st

Renewal Application Deadline: September 30th

  • Renewal applications are due the third year after initial application is approved.
  • Subsequent renewals are due every five years.

Application Fees

  • Application fee is $400 at the time of submission.
  • Annual fee of $150 for years 1 and 2.
  • Annual fee of $200 for year 3 and beyond.
  • Please make check payable to "SAEM" and reference "[Type of fellowship] Fellowship Application."
  • Checks can be mailed to: SAEM, 1111 East Touhy Ave, Suite 540, Des Plaines, IL 60018 or faxed using the credit card form [pdf] to (847) 813-5450.

     

    You can download a copy of the application form questions.

    Please note, you must submit applications through the online portal. Emailed copies of an application will not be accepted.

     

    Annual Reports

    (Non-research fellowships only)

    Annual Fellowship Evaluations are required of approved programs on March 31st each year. The annual evaluation will ask you to list graduating fellows. Please make sure to complete this form in order for your fellows to receive their certificate.

     

    Institution Application

    Approval of a Geriatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship program is contingent upon a review of the institutional environment, success of prior graduates and current members of the faculty fellowship team, and proposed curriculum for future fellows. All approved institutions must have an ACGME-approved emergency medicine residency and support for geriatric programs in place. They must demonstrate strong collaboration with geriatric clinicians, educators, and researchers as well as with other clinical services that supervise relevant rotations.  This support may frequently be provided by collaboration with an existing internal medicine geriatric fellowship program.

    Essential Elements for an SAEM-Approved Fellowship in Geriatric Emergency Medicine

    A geriatric emergency medicine (GEM) fellowship should prepare the participant to become a leader in GEM by combining clinical and academic training in geriatric acute and, when appropriate, preventative care. In addition, graduates should have the necessary skills to facilitate career advancement in GEM both clinically and in at least one of three other areas:


    1. Administration – the development of fundamental administrative skills to allow the fellow to evolve as a leader in the care of older patients at their institution. This may include expertise in clinical operations, quality improvement processes, patient safety, or other appropriate administrative topics.


    2. Education – the development of fundamental medical education experiences to allow the fellow to evolve as a leading educator in GEM. This may include establishing expertise in key areas of geriatric core content as listed below, with educational materials developed by the fellow that can be used to advance the field of geriatric emergency care.


    3. Research – the development of fundamental skills in medical research, basic science, translational, and/ or clinical research to allow the fellow to evolve as a leading researcher in GEM. This should include focused education research training, training in design and conduct of clinical trials, and training in writing and reviewing scientific manuscripts. A fellow should produce a scholarly project, at minimum a well-developed potentially fundable proposal.


    Clinical – Clinical experiences should include care of the acutely ill older adult and experiences encompassing the complete continuum of care of these patients. Clinical experience should be as broad as possible, using the opportunities provided by the health care system hosting the fellowship. These should include several of the following: EMS care, emergency department, inpatient wards, intensive care units (MICU, SICU, CCU, burn unit), geriatric consult service, palliative care service, outpatient clinic, home care visits, and nursing home experiences. Depending upon the institution, consideration should also be given to subspecialty exposure including but not limited to dizziness/vertigo clinics, dementia assessment units, fragility fracture management programs, home-based primary care, and home-based palliative care.


    Fellowships should demonstrate how they will prepare graduates to become scholars, and may choose to have a curriculum that provides broad training in all areas of scholarship (administration, education, and research), or to develop separate tracks that focus on one or more areas of scholarship in more depth while still including a degree of exposure and training in all three areas.


    Fellowships may be one year or two years in length. An advanced degree should be a part of the curriculum if the fellowship is two years.


    In order to meet the standards for an approved fellowship, the following curricular elements (core content) must be addressed (please see Geriatric Emergency Milestones for more complete list). All fellowships and graduating fellows must address the core components of clinical care, and, additionally, the elements of at least one of the three tracks (education, administration, and research) listed below.


    A. Clinical care

    1. Atypical presentations of disease in older adults
    2. Trauma, including falls
    3. Cognitive and behavioral disorders
    4. Emergency intervention modifications
    5. Medication management
    6. Transitions of care
    7. Effect of comorbid conditions
    8. Ethics, palliative care, and end-of-life issues
    9. Continuum of care
    10. Geriatric syndromes
    11. Wound management/ pressure ulcers
    12. End-of-life care

    B. Educational Skills

    1. Completion of a master’s degree in teaching or education (for two-year programs focusing on education)
    2. Curricular development
    3. Case-based learning series
    4. Simulation session development
    5. Delivery of educational topics to EM residents through
      a. didactic lectures
      b. podcasts
      c. textbook and chapter content
      d. skills workshops
      e. GEM journal clubs
    6. Mentorship of students and residents in geriatric care areas

    C. Administrative skills

    1. Completion of an MBA or other administrative degree (for two-year programs focusing on administration)
    2. Development of policies and protocols to advance geriatric care in the ED
    3. Development of policies and protocols to advance linkage from the ED with all other providers needed for transitions of care and follow-up care
    4. Provision of records to help ensure the fellowship demonstrates achievement of program goals and objectives
    5. Participation on national and local panels on emergency elder care issues
    6. Completion of ACEP leadership and advocacy conference

    D. Research skills

    1. Completion of an MPH or other master’s level programs (for two-year programs focusing on research)
    2. Development of expertise in statistics, qualitative research, decision-making, health services research, methodology, epidemiology, etc.
    3. Grant writing and review
    4. Analysis of existing literature
    5. Submission of individual research abstracts and/ or manuscripts
    6. Submission of individual grant proposals
    7. Completion of research projects within the institution
    8. Understanding of development of collaborative research consortiums

    Applicants may wish to consult the following publications for suggestions and clarification within each area:


    Hogan TM, Losman ED, Carpenter CR, Sauvigne K, Irmiter C, Emanuel L, Leipzig RM. Development of geriatric competencies for emergency medicine residents using an expert consensus process. Acad Emerg Med. 2010 Mar; 17 (3): 316-24.


    Fellowship Approval Program Logo