Health Care Department (Geriatric Medicine Department)

The Department of Health Care/Geriatric Medicine of Qilu Hospital of Shandong University was established in 1959 and is a comprehensive discipline integrating medical care, teaching, scientific research, and health care. It is currently a participating institution in the National Clinical Key Specialty Development Project, a National Geriatric Medicine Specialist Training Base, a member institution of the Geriatrics Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, a member institution of the Osteoporosis and Bone Mineral Salt Diseases Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, a “Demonstration Base for the Implementation of Clinical Nutrition in Geriatrics” awarded by the Geriatrics Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, a core network member institution of the National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Diseases, a “Geriatric Medicine Training Base” awarded by the National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Diseases of the Chinese Society of Geriatrics, the chairing institution of the North China Geriatric Medicine Center Alliance, a member institution of the Cardiovascular Disease Professional Committee of the Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine, and a “Cardiac Rehabilitation Center” jointly awarded by the Cardiovascular Branch of the Chinese Medical Association and the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Rehabilitation Professional Committee of the China Heart Alliance; a “China Clinical Application Training Base for External Counterpulsation” jointly awarded by the External Counterpulsation Branch of the Chinese Society of Biomedical Engineering and the External Counterpulsation Committee of the Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Diseases Professional Committee of the Chinese Gerontology Society; a “China Regional Collaborative Center for Global Clinical Registry Research on External Counterpulsation” awarded by the External Counterpulsation Branch of the Chinese Society of Biomedical Engineering; an editorial-board institution of the Chinese Journal of Geriatrics and an editorial-board institution of the Chinese Journal of Osteoporosis and Bone Mineral Salt Diseases. It is a key discipline of Shandong Province, the chairing institution of the Geriatrics Professional Committee of Shandong Province, the chairing institution of the Osteoporosis and Bone Mineral Salt Diseases Branch of Shandong Province, the chairing institution of the Stem Cell Clinical Research and Application Branch of the Shandong Medical Association, the chairing institution of the Professional Committee of Malnutrition and Sarcopenia of the Shandong Heart Function Research Association, and a member institution of the Shandong Pulmonary Hypertension Health and Medical Big Data Science and Technology Innovation Alliance. It has the Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Disease Proteomics of Shandong Province. It was the first institution in Shandong Province authorized to confer master’s and doctoral degrees and offer postdoctoral programs in geriatric medicine.

The department currently has more than 90 physicians and more than 170 nurses. There are 8 doctoral supervisors and 13 master’s supervisors. It has outpatient services, health care/geriatric medicine wards, a special examination room, and a cardiac remote monitoring center. Outpatient services include subspecialty clinics of the Health Care/Geriatric Medicine Department, as well as the Dongshan Community Clinic and the Xinglong Community Clinic. The wards include subspecialties such as geriatric cardiology, geriatric neurology, geriatric endocrinology, geriatric gastroenterology, geriatric respiratory medicine and nephrology, and geriatric critical care, with a total of 9 wards and 320 beds.

The department can independently perform geriatric cardiac interventional procedures, including coronary stent implantation, coronary rotational atherectomy, pacemaker implantation, radiofrequency ablation, and pulmonary angioplasty, among others, as well as cardiac rehabilitation. It provides standardized diagnosis and treatment for geriatric neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes, osteoporosis, geriatric critical illness, geriatric digestive diseases, geriatric lymphoma, geriatric ophthalmic diseases, geriatric oral diseases, and other conditions. It provides specialized services including comprehensive geriatric assessment, geriatric nutrition screening and intervention, rehabilitation physiotherapy, gastrointestinal endoscopy, bedside hemofiltration, and bronchoscopy. The special examination room performs cardiac and other organ ultrasonography, ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, real-time remote cardiac monitoring, noninvasive cardiac function testing, continuous glucose monitoring, bone mineral density testing, PWV, sleep and respiratory monitoring, cerebral blood-flow monitoring, OCT, and other examinations. It has successfully undertaken various national-level and other health-care and medical-support assignments. In the past 5 years, it has trained more than 40 doctoral and master’s students. It has provided clinical teaching for hundreds of people, including resident physicians in geriatric medicine, internal medicine, and general practice, as well as clinical pharmacists, graduate students, undergraduate students, interns, and international students. Multiple physicians have been sent to renowned hospitals in China and abroad for further training and academic exchange. The department has undertaken more than 50 projects, including the National Science and Technology Basic Work Special Project, the National Natural Science Foundation, and provincial projects; it has published more than 60 academic papers, including more than 50 indexed in SCI. It has served as chief editor of 4 books and contributed to multiple works, including the Ministry of Health standardized specialist physician training textbook Geriatric Medicine and Advanced Course in Geriatric Medicine, and has participated in formulating 5 national expert consensuses. It hosted the 2018 and 2019 China Geriatrics and Elderly Health Industry Conference (CCGI), and has hosted many Advanced Training Courses for Physicians in Geriatric Medicine, the annual meeting of the Geriatrics Branch of Shandong Province, the annual meeting of the Osteoporosis and Bone Mineral Salt Diseases Branch of Shandong Province, the annual meeting of the Stem Cell Clinical Research and Application Branch of the Shandong Medical Association, the annual meeting of the Professional Committee of Malnutrition and Sarcopenia of the Shandong Heart Function Research Association, and other academic conferences. It has hosted multiple national and provincial continuing medical education training courses. The department has repeatedly organized large-scale free medical consultation and health education activities to serve the public.

The department has received many honors, including “Advanced Unit for Health-Care Work in Shandong Province,” “Outstanding Grassroots Party Organization of Shandong University,” “Youth Civilization Unit of Shandong University,” “Outstanding Communist Youth League Branch of Shandong University,” “Outstanding Party Branch of Qilu Hospital,” “Outstanding Collective of Qilu Hospital,” “Outstanding Research Collective of Qilu Hospital,” and “Outstanding Training Unit for Standardized Training of Resident Physicians of Qilu Hospital.” Many medical and nursing staff have received honors including “Advanced Individual in Health-Care Work of Shandong Province,” “Advanced Individual of the Shandong Health Care Association,” “Outstanding Worker of the Shandong Medical Association,” “National Outstanding Resident Physician’s Favorite Teacher,” “National Outstanding Resident Physician,” “Top 100 Nurse of Shandong Province,” “Outstanding Worker of Qilu Hospital,” “Top Ten Physician of Qilu Hospital,” and “Outstanding Teaching Instructor for Standardized Training of Resident Physicians.”