Upcoming Conference Looks at Scientific Innovations to Enhance Care

Here’s a date to put in your Microsoft office calendar.  Join more than 2,500 of the world’s leading geriatrics experts in Portland, Oregon, this May 2-4, who will attend the upcoming American Geriatrics Society (AGS) 2019 Annual Scientific Meeting. Organizers say that experts will put the spotlight on social & scientific innovations that will enhance the care for us all as we age. 

When today’s aging Baby Boomers were just starting their professional careers, smoking was still in vogue, American life expectancy still hovered in the 60s, and “Medicare” established in 1965 was a term yet to be coined. Yet research advances have allowed Baby Boomers to live longer than any generation before took root in those early days, when “today” was still “tomorrow.”  The same spirit now will shape care for future generations of older Americans.

This cadre of the field’s preeminent physicians, nurses, pharmacists, physician assistants, social workers, long-term and managed care providers, healthcare administrators, journalists, and advocates attending #AGS19 will collectively explore the latest research, education, and innovation across a program with more than 100 events and built from more than 1,000 scholarly submissions.

A Sampling of Sessions

Here is a sampling of sessions (taken straight from the brochure) that you might be interested in attending:

A Dementia-Specific Advance Directive (May 2; 8:15-9:15am PT).  As cases of dementia continue to rise, so too do medical, legal, and ethical questions about care decisions for those impacted. This session will address dementia-specific advance directives (legal documents that help outline future care preferences and expectations), including laws related to patient rights and the ethical nuance of coordinating better care while also supporting personal rights.

Keeping Older Adults Out of the Hospital Paper Session (May 3; 8:15-9:15am PT). Avoiding hospital visits is a priority for most people, and older adults—still among hospitals’ most frequent visitors—are no exception. In this session, researchers will discuss new strategies for reducing emergency room visits, optimizing value-based care, improving transitions to home, and reducing readmissions.

Healthy Aging Through Healthy Nutrition (May 3; 10:30-11:30am PT).  There are many strategies to increase longevity and maintain health, safety, and independence, but having a healthy diet is one of the simplest and most effective. In this session, health professionals will explore how food systems, clinical practice, and specific medical and social interventions have fostered healthy aging by addressing the importance of a healthy diet.

Advance Care Planning: More Than Just Box-Checking (May 4; 7:30-8:30am PT). Advanced care planning (ACP)—a service that allows health professionals and older adults and caregivers to discuss future care needs, potential care decisions, and advance directives (legal documents for outlining the same)—has a track record for improving patient and provider satisfaction with our health system. In this session, experts will discuss some of the barriers to having these conversations, as well as tools to help clinicians and older adults better prepare for identifying and describing future care decisions.

Diabetes in Older Adults (May 4; 11:45am-12:45pm PT). Diabetes is still one of the leading chronic health concerns impacting older people in the developed world. In this session, experts will review one of diabetes’ hottest topics: the advantages and disadvantages of different medications for lowering blood sugar levels.

Pharmacotherapy Update: 2019 (May 4; 1-2pm PT), This session will address updates in access to medications for older adults, summarizing changes over the past year in prescription drug treatment and coverage.

Evidence-Based Nursing Home Care Paper Session (May 4; 1-2pm PT). In #AGS19’s final paper session, top-ranked researchers will review updates in nursing home care, from efforts to improve testing for urinary tract infections to opportunities for addressing different communication styles among members of long-term-care teams.

Session times, topics, and presenters are subject to change.  For a complete schedule go to Meeting.AmericanGeriatrics.org.