Acute Care for the Elder (ACE)

The UCH ACE service is an inpatient ward service providing care for the hospitalized patient over the age of 70. The ACE service is designed to be an innovative and enjoyable educational experience using non-traditional teaching methods with a primary emphasis on both the learners experience and delivering elder-centric care. 

This award-winning educational experience is designed to:  

1. Improve individual clinicians’ ability to recognize and treat vulnerability as it interacts with the acute illness requiring hospitalization. 
2. Compensate, using specific clinician actions, for a medical system poorly suited to meet the needs of the geriatric patient.
3. Demonstrate a vibrant example of how hospital systems can be improved to benefit vulnerable patients.

The goals of the Acute Care for the Elder Service rotation are to gain competence in the evidence-based management of geriatric conditions commonly admitted to the hospital and to gain expertise in the interdisciplinary care of complex geriatric syndromes. To recognize bias and social drivers of health and how they impact aging populations. This will be accomplished with a patient and family centered approach with individualization of care based on understanding of the unique physiology, pharmacodynamics, and psychosocial issues of older adults. An overriding goal will be for learners to learn the fundamental concept of balance in the medical care of older adults with focus on quality of life and individualization based on the patient’s goals and priorities.

Directors