EIM Upgrades Geriatric Certification Programs With Foundational and Advanced Pathways

February 14, 2023 • Geriatric • Heidi Moyer

EIM has updated our geriatric certification content to provide for the needs of clinicians at many levels of their career, through the new Foundational Geriatric Certification and the Advanced Geriatric Certification. Graduates from our programs serve as examples of clinical care for others, helping to drive forward the culture change required in proper exercise prescription/dosing and elimination of ageist care practices and other barriers which limit clinical outcomes.

Both programs include recently updated curriculum taught by experts in the field of geriatric rehabilitation across multiple disciplines including occupational therapy, pharmacy, and physical therapy across multiple board-certified specialties including geriatrics, orthopedics, neurology, and integumentary. This program is the only program that has multiple professionals providing content, giving you unparalleled access to cross-specialty and interprofessional collaboration and knowledge. These classes have been designed not only to provide clinicians with the most important, highest-rated quality evidence to provide better clinical care, but also to create role models who can lead by example in what best clinical practice looks like to help to inspire those around them and inspire the cultural change that geriatric physical therapy so desperately needs.

The Foundational Geriatric Certification Program serves as an introduction to the essentials of rehab principles required for physical and occupational therapy professionals who occasionally work with older adults or who are just interested in learning more and sharpening their skills in a more casual learning environment. Open to PTs, OTs, PTAs, and COTAs, this program is ideal for the early career professional or the more seasoned outpatient clinician who wants to improve their outcomes with older adult patients to provide best-practice care in ANY setting. The cost is $2,500 for 5 courses over 4-6 months including:

GERI 6110: Introduction to Geriatric Rehabilitation (4 weeks, online, self-paced)
GERI 6150: Exercise Prescription in Older Adults (4 weeks, online, self-paced)
GERI 6520WI: Management of Orthopedic Conditions in Older Adults (onsite, 2-day, in person, weekend intensive)
GERI 6510WI: Management of Balance and Falls in Older Adults (onsite, 2-day, in person, weekend intensive)
GERI 6140: Wellness and Health Promotion in Geriatric Rehabilitation (4 weeks, online, self-paced)

The Advanced Geriatric Certification Program serves as an immersive learning experience for professionals who consistently work with older adults and want to provide the highest level of quality care. This program address care in all settings from acute care to health promotion and wellness to hospice. Open to PTs and OTs, this 12-month program, costing $6,300, includes 12 courses carefully crafted to address the detail and complexity required to provide the utmost quality of clinical care for the older adult population. In addition to the learning experiences in the foundational program, advanced learners will take part in 3 faculty-led courses taught by experts in the topic, create their own patient care reflections through our Virtual Case Rounds assignments, and learn the content on a much deeper level which allows for quicker translation of skilled to clinical practice. This content gives the learner unprecedented access to dozens of professionals in a way that no other course provides. The content includes the following:

EBP 6100: Evidence-Based Practice I (4 weeks, online, self-paced)
*GERI 6110: Introduction to Geriatric Rehabilitation (4 weeks, online, self-paced)
*GERI 6150: Exercise Prescription in Older Adults (4 weeks, online, self-paced)
GERI 6120: Cardiopulmonary Conditions in Older Adults (6 weeks, online, self-paced)
GERI 6230: Neurologic Conditions in Older Adults (6 weeks, online, faculty-led)
GERI 6520: Management of Orthopedic Conditions in Older Adults (8 weeks, online, faculty-led)
*GERI 6520WI: Management of Orthopedic Conditions in Older Adults (onsite, in person, weekend intensive)
GERI 6510: Management of Balance and Falls in Older Adults (8 weeks, online, faculty-led)
*GERI 6510WI: Management of Balance and Falls in Older Adults (onsite, in person, weekend intensive)
1 Elective (4 weeks, online, self-paced)
- *GERI 6140: Wellness and Health Promotion in Geriatric Rehabilitation
- GERI 6130: Integumentary Conditions in Geriatric Rehabilitation
- GERI 6160: Regulatory, Legal, and Policy in Geriatric Rehabilitaion
GERI 6210: Hospice and End of Life Considerations for the Older Adult (4 weeks, online, self-paced)
GERI 7080: Geriatric Capstone Exam (4 weeks, online, self-paced)

* included in the Foundational Geriatric Certification.

Additionally, if you take the Foundational Geriatric Certification and qualify to take the Advanced Geriatric Certification, your tuition will be pro-rated and you do not need to retake the courses you already completed. Both programs launch twice a year in the Winter (January start) and Summer (July). Our first cohort for the new foundational program will be July of 2023!

If you have any questions about the Geriatric Certification Programs, please reach out to the program director, Heidi Moyer, at hmoyer@eimpt.com.

Heidi Moyer

As a Board-Certified Clinical Specialist in Geriatric Physical Therapy (GCS) and a Certified Exercise Expert in Aging Adults (CEEAA), Heidi is the Program Director for the Evidence in Motion Geriatric Certification Program. Dr. Moyer is a current full-time Assistant Clinical Professor in the Angelo State University Doctor of Physical Therapy program and has previous experience...