UofL professor named finalist for national award recognizing leadership in long-term care

Patrick J. Murphy Jr., M.D., director of the University of Louisville Home Call Program and professor of geriatrics in the Department of Family and Geriatric Medicine, has been named one of six finalists for a national award recognizing leadership in long-term care.

Murphy has been nominated for the 2014 Medical Director of the Year award, presented by AMDA-Dedicated to Long Term Care. Formerly called the American Medical Directors Association, AMDA is a professional association of medical directors, attending physicians and other professionals practicing in long-term care and provides education, advocacy, information and professional development to promote the delivery of quality long-term care medicine.

The award will be presented Feb. 28 at the AMDA annual meeting in Nashville, Tenn.

Murphy is the only award nominee who is board-certified as a fellow of the American Academy of Family Practice and the only nominee on the faculty of an academic health center. He also has earned certification from AMDA as a medical director.

Murphy founded the UofL Home Care Program, which allows elderly patients to have better accessibility to and coordination of their health care. He also instituted the Palliative Care Committee and the Behavioral Committee at area nursing homes to improve coordination of palliative care, behavioral management and overall quality of care.
As a member of the Greater Louisville Medical Society's Transitions of Care Committee, Murphy worked with local emergency department physicians to improve the documentation of patient transfers and led an effort to implement a standardized form for nursing home care transfers.

He has instituted changes in medical student and resident training as well to better prepare future physicians in caring for geriatric patients. He regularly brings medical students with him on home care visits to augment their learning. He also began a program at UofL where medical residents follow three nursing home patients for two years and conduct monthly rounds with him.