AMDA issues list of competencies for long-term care physicians

AMDA competencies

Doctors practicing in long-term care settings should hone certain skills identified by leading stakeholders in order to produce higher quality outcomes, according to a prominent physician association.

The list of competencies for physicians in post-acute and long-term care medicine was released Monday by AMDA-Dedicated to Long-Term Care (formerly the American Medical Directors Association). They are grouped in five categories: Foundation, Medical Care Delivery Process, Systems, Medical Knowledge, and Personal QAPI.

“Foundation” competencies include demonstrating communication skills that “foster positive interpersonal relationships” among residents, families and members of an interdisciplinary care team. Provision of care should minimize disruption and discomfort for patients, which might call for limiting blood sugar or vital signs checks, according to the list of competencies. The document also calls for developing a “person-centered treatment plan” and the prudent use of antipsychotic medications, physical restraints and catheters.

“Now that AMDA has finalized the competencies, we are excited about moving forward to seek broad support for this work, which includes the development of a training curriculum around the competencies and a mechanism for measuring the efficacy of that training,” stated AMDA President Jonathan Evans, M.D., CMD.

The competencies were developed over the course of two years, according to AMDA. They have been vetted and formally endorsed by a number of medical societies and the two largest long-term care trade associations, the American Health Care Association and LeadingAge.