NCCPA CAQ Geriatrics study guide

The Certificate of Added Qualifications (CAQ) is an NCCPA specialty credential that a Board Certified PA can earn to demonstrate advanced expertise in a focused area of practice beyond the generalist certification. NCCPA describes the CAQ program as a way to "show your advanced expertise in your specialty." NCCPA is the only certifying organization for PAs in the United States, was established as a not-for-profit organization in 1974, and is accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA). A geriatrics CAQ is aimed at PAs whose practice centers on older adults - for example in primary care, hospital medicine, long-term care, house calls, or palliative and post-acute settings - and who want a credential that signals that focus to employers, credentialing bodies, and patients. Content for a specialty CAQ is built around the knowledge and skills that distinguish that specialty, so geriatrics study should center on the conditions and care decisions that make older-adult care different: multimorbidity and polypharmacy, falls and gait instability, cognitive impairment and delirium, sensory and nutritional decline, continence, pressure injury, goals-of-care and advance planning, caregiver burden, and the atypical presentations common in advanced age. Topics on this exam: Geriatric Medicine. The NCCPA CAQ Geriatrics study guide has 1 section and about 435 words.