Telehealth and interdisciplinary clinical training initiatives connect learners, providers, and communities through collaborative models that integrate workforce development with real-world patient care. Through partnerships with healthcare organizations across Hawaii, these experiences expand access to geriatrics expertise while creating meaningful opportunities for trainees to learn within active clinical environments serving rural, underserved, and geographically distributed populations.
Conducted in partnership with Queen's University Medical Group (QUMG), the Geriatrics Telehealth Consult Clinic combines specialty geriatrics consultation with interdisciplinary clinical training. Learners from medicine, nursing, social work, pharmacy, and related disciplines participate in case discussions, patient assessments, and care planning while working alongside experienced providers. Virtual consultations and collaborative review of complex cases provide exposure to the clinical, behavioral, social, and functional factors that influence health and aging while demonstrating how interdisciplinary teams approach care planning and decision-making. This model supports workforce development while expanding access to specialty geriatrics care for communities where these services may otherwise be limited.
PI-GWEP partners with The Queen's Medical Center to provide interprofessional geriatrics telehealth consultations for care homes serving residents on the neighbor islands. These consultations connect local care teams with an interdisciplinary team that may include geriatricians, pharmacists, nurses, social workers, and trainees, helping address complex care needs while supporting local providers and caregivers. Consultations may focus on dementia-related behavioral concerns, medication management, sleep disturbances, fall prevention, mobility challenges, care planning, and caregiver support. This model extends specialty geriatrics expertise to rural and neighbor island communities while demonstrating how coordinated teams can address complex care needs across geographically dispersed settings.
In collaboration with AlohaCare, trainees may participate in GRACE Interdisciplinary Team Care (IDT), an interdisciplinary model that brings together healthcare professionals from multiple disciplines to review complex cases and develop coordinated care strategies. These experiences emphasize communication, shared decision-making, and collaborative approaches that address both the medical and social factors affecting health and well-being. Team-based discussions and coordinated care planning highlight the value of interdisciplinary collaboration in supporting individuals with complex needs across community and clinical settings.