Education and Consultation Needs of Social Workers in Practice with Rural Older Adults

The aging population and shortage of primary care physicians lead to increasing gaps in access to rural geriatric healthcare. Of concern is the lack of access to geriatric expertise, leading to adverse effects on rural older adults' health outcomes and quality of life. The Geriatric Rural Extension of Expertise through Telegeriatric Services (also known as GREETS) project surveyed rural physical and behavioral healthcare practitioners to identify gaps in geriatric competencies in the rural workforce. Using the Qualtrics platform, a survey was distributed to professional membership lists throughout the State of Michigan. A total of 106 responses were completed, of which 50 were from respondents who identified their profession as a social worker. As would be expected based on social workers' scope of practice and the settings in which they provide services, social worker respondents noted a higher need than the other practitioner respondents for education related to (a) managing chronic pain, (b) managing care of patients with multiple chronic conditions, (c) having serious illness conversations, (d) diagnosing dementia, and (e) discussing advance care planning. Having identified these needs provides a basis for identifying and implementing training and resources for social work and other disciplines involved in geriatric care and services.