ODL 290: From Recognition to Respect: Addressing Elder Abuse and Informed Consent in Healthcare

Please make sure to check with your own state board to ensure the transferability of CE credit for an asynchronous course. Some state boards may place restrictions regarding the modality of training required for ethics credits to be awarded. If this training indicates ethics credits are available, please verify that your state allows them to be earned through an on-demand course format.

 5 CREDIT HOURS APPROVED FOR:

Social Workers
ASWB ACE – 3 General and 2 Ethics CE Credits
New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work – 5 Contact Hours
Psychologists
APA – 5 CE Credits
Counselors – 5 Contact Hours including 2 Ethics*
NBCC ACEP – 5 Contact Hours
New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners – 5 Contact Hours
Addiction Professionals
NAADAC – 5 Contact Hours
Nurses
California Board of Registered Nursing – 5 Contact Hours
Case Managers
CCMC – 5 Contact Hours

* Some states do not require/accept ethics hours for counselors, for those cases contact hours will be awarded. 

Created On: 7/24/24 Revised On: 10/12/2025   

Target Audience:

This course is targeted for social workers, psychologists, counselors, nurses and case managers.

Counselor Skill Groups:

5. Documentation
6. Case Management
7. Legal, Ethical and Professional Development

Overview:

Elder abuse remains a significantly underreported issue within healthcare systems, directly impacting emergency rooms, rehabilitation programs, and long-term care facilities. This presentation highlights the crucial role of frontline healthcare workers in identifying and addressing elder abuse during discharge planning processes. We’ll explore forensic biomarkers indicative of elder abuse and equip professionals with assessment and intervention strategies.

Moreover, informed consent stands as a cornerstone of patient autonomy and dignity in healthcare. In an era characterized by virtual interactions and fast-paced environments, the art of informed consent often gets overshadowed. This session delves into the nuances of high-quality informed consent, emphasizing patient comprehension and decision-making abilities. Attendees will learn to navigate capacity assessments, ethical considerations, and legal principles, empowering them to uphold patient autonomy while navigating complex decision-making scenarios.

Course Objectives:

By the end of the session – the participant will be able to:

• Recognize factors that contribute to abuse going undetected within health care settings.
• Identify forensic biomarkers that can indicate abuse.
• Demonstrate current practice to include elder abuse assessment techniques and reporting procedures.
• Define the principles of informed consent.
• Describe the triggers for a capacity assessment.
• Examine the ethical principles at play when assessing decision-making capacity.

Presenter:

Lisa Bednarz, LCSW, CMAC, ACM-SW, ASW-G, Regional Director of Case Management for Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health

Lisa began her career serving as a community guardian for incapacitated older adults before joining NewYork-Presbyterian’s distinguished geriatrics team, and ultimately moving fully into healthcare leadership. She has front-line experience navigating the intersection of the healthcare and legal systems and uses this knowledge to educate physicians on ethical issues in gerontology, including capacity assessments and elder abuse. She has developed and implemented screening tools and response protocols to address elder abuse within the acute care setting. Lisa has advanced training in trauma-focused care, family systems, and healthcare management. She is a former Hartford Fellow in Geriatric Mental Health and a former advisor for the Vulnerable Elder Protection Team at Weill Cornell Medical College. Lisa operates a small geriatric care management practice and acts as a consultant and speaker on psychosocial health in the aging population and ethical decision-making in work with cognitively impaired clients. Lisa lives in New York City with her family.