AGEM Author Spotlight March 2025
Published Work by AGEM Members
AGEM Author Spotlight: Wendy Coates, MD, Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles
Cultivating a Career in Geriatric Emergency Medicine
As our population ages, Emergency Departments (ED) are seeing more and more senior citizens as patients. Older adults have unique needs based on physiologic manifestations of common diseases, co-morbidities, complex pharmacologic requirements, and sometimes cognitive decline or social challenges. Optimal management of these patients within our busy departments often requires a multidisciplinary approach that is well thought out and coordinated by people who have a deep understanding of these unique needs. Care providers at any stage can improve their knowledge and skills to care for aging patients. Our paper highlights focused learning activities and resources for each stage of training (e.g., medical students, residents, fellows) and practice (e.g. attending physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses) to advance their ability to advocate and care for geriatric patients in the ED. Importantly, the field of Geriatric Emergency Medicine has emerged as a unique discipline which offers fellowship training, funding opportunities, and evidence-based guidelines for optimal care. There is a Geriatric ED Accreditation (GEDA) for a department to be designated as a Geriatric ED. Geriatric Emergency Medicine is a much-needed multidisciplinary subspecialty whose future is filled with opportunity to optimize care as our aging population proliferates.
Dr. Coates’ research focus is Health Professions Education with an emphasis on faculty and learner development, mentorship, curricular innovation and evaluation, creativity in medicine, and qualitative methods.She is a founding member of the Editorial Board for AEM Education & Training, member of the AEM Editorial Board, Associate Editor for the Journal of Dance Medicine and Science and was an ABEM Item Writer for 9 years. She has both a personal and professional interest in optimizing education about the care for older adults.
Dr. Coates serves as the immediate past-president and member of the Executive Committee on the Board of Directors for the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) after many years of active service and leadership activities within the Society that focus on advancing its mission of supporting research and education in EM.
Google Scholar Link: https://scholar.google.com/
NIH My Bibliography: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/