During Overlook Family Medicine Community Medicine Geriatrics rotations, our residents attend palliative care meetings and consults, and provide hospice care in patients' homes under the leadership of a family medicine faculty attending.
During the rotation, Overlook Family Medicine residents work with elderly patients in a number of settings, primarily at our Overlook Family Medicine and Chatham Family Medicine offices. Within the resident's three years of training, there are innumerable opportunities to provide care for this population in the outpatient settings and, when significant illness occurs, in the hospital setting. The residency program also provides care for many patients who are in Autumn Lake Healthcare at Berkeley Heights, a nearby 130-bed facility providing subacute, short- and long-term care and rehabilitation. Autumn Lakes' medical director is the associate director of Overlook Family Medicine Residency Program. Patients admitted to Autumn Lake for subacute care may receive physical, occupational and speech therapies, as well as a prolonged course of intravenous antibiotics for infectious endocarditis or osteomyelitis, or continuous peritoneal dialysis. This facility also provides a palliative care program for patients. Every Family Medicine resident is assigned their own panel of patients at Autumn Lake, whom they see monthly during the second and third years of residency training. During the rotation, the resident also participates in rounds at the facility. The resident also sees patients at Spring Meadows Summit, an assisted living facility, with OFM Faculty Attending.
In the Community Medicine portion of the rotation, residents conduct sports exam screenings with a member of our volunteer faculty, attend an AA meeting, participate in screenings and community education programs with Overlook's Community Health Department, conduct health education programs at a local YMCA and participate in screenings and education programs at the site of Family Promise, an organization which supports homeless families, with which the residency partners.
