Lynne T Tomasa

Interests

Research

Aging,End of Life,Family Caregiving,Developmental Disabilities

Teaching

Aging,End of Life,Family Caregiving

Courses

Scholarly Contributions

Books

• Tomasa, L. T. (2014). My Life, My Wishes: Sharing My Journey. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona.
• Tomasa, L. T. (2013). My House My Home: Creating Real Homes for Real People. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona.
• Tomasa, L. T. (2010). Future Care Planning: A Roadmap for Family Caregivers. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona.

Chapters

• Tomasa, L. T. (2010). Medically uninsured older Americans. In The Care of the Uninsured in America(pp 171-186). Springer, New York, NY. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-78309-3_12
  More info

  America is becoming a more diverse nation. Older Americans are increasing in number at a rapid rate, and we are living longer. With these changes come an increasing demand for health care services and the increasing costs of care. This chapter identifies the importance of focusing on our uninsured, and often underinsured, older Americans, and the issues surrounding their access to health insurance coverage. Due to the overall small percentage of uninsured older Americans aged 65 years and above, this population is easily ignored. To appreciate the need for a closer examination, this chapter provides an overview of several issues and topics. The chapter begins with an overview of the changing demographics of America’s older adults; identifies the uninsured in this population; provides a review of Medicare Parts A, B, and C; describes the role of Medicare Part D; investigates the issue of health insurance for the group of adults aged 50–64; and concludes with how some states are moving forward in providing expanded health care insurance and access to their uninsured. Older Americans, also referred to here as older adults, are defined in the chapter and in national datasets as persons 65 years and older.
• Don, L. K., & Tomasa, L. T. (2008). Health Issues in Arizona AAPI: Growing Older in Arizona. In The State of Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders in Arizona(p. 2). https://outreach.asu.edu/content/state-asian-americans-and-pacific-islanders-arizona: ASU Public Affairs.
  More info

  The State of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Arizona report arose from a recognition that policymakers lack adequate information. In this case, there is a dearth of information on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI). Given that unmet need, a coalition gathered and created the Asian Pacific Arizona Initiative — APAZI. The project represents a year-long collaboration between APAZI, APAS, ASU for Arizona, and numerous community leaders, members and professionals throughout the state. We hope this report serves as a starting point for future research on Arizona AAPI communities. (Source: https://outreach.asu.edu/content/state-asian-americans-and-pacific-islanders-arizona

Journals/Publications

• Tomasa, L. T., Lee, J. K., Evans, P., Pho, V. B., Bear, M., & Vo, A. (2019). Impact of geriatrics elective courses at three colleges of pharmacy: Attitudes toward aging and eldercare. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, 11(12), 1239-1247. doi:DOI: 10.1016/j.cptl.2019.09.016.
• Weiss, B. D., & Tomasa, L. T. (2010). Hiking on the geriatrics rotation. Family medicine, 42(7), 473-5.
  More info

  Most geriatrics training emphasizes chronically ill, dying, demented, or institutionalized patients. While some programs link trainees to healthy older adults in interview settings, we developed an experience that exposes trainees to vigorously active seniors with the objective of demonstrating the physical capabilities of older adults.
• Mohler, M. J., D'Huyvetter, K., Tomasa, L., O'Neill, L., & Fain, M. J. (2010). Healthy aging rounds: using healthy-aging mentors to teach medical students about physical activity and social support assessment, interviewing, and prescription. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 58(12), 2407-11.
  More info

  Medical students underestimate the health and functional status of community-dwelling older adults and have little experience in health promotion interviewing or prescribing physical activity. The goal was to provide third-year University of Arizona medical students with an opportunity to gain a broader and evidence-based understanding of healthy aging, with specific focus on physical activity and social engagement. Students engaged in one-on-one conversations with healthy older adult mentors and practiced assessment, interviewing and prescription counseling for physical activity and social support. This 2-hour mandatory interactive educational offering improved student attitudes and knowledge about healthy aging and provided hands-on health promotion counseling experience.
• Eleazer, G. P., Stewart, T. J., Wieland, G. D., Anderson, M. B., Simpson, D., & , S. C. (2009). The national evaluation of senior mentor programs: older adults in medical education. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 57(2), 321-6.
  More info

  To identify models for senior mentor programs (SMPs), critical factors in program development, achievement of goals and objectives, effect on medical school environment, and future of programs.
• Shapiro, D., Tomasa, L., & Koff, N. A. (2009). Patients as teachers, medical students as filmmakers: the video slam, a pilot study. Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, 84(9), 1235-43.
  More info

  In 2006-2007 and 2007-2008, the authors pilot-tested a filmmaking project, (medical students filmed patients) to assess the project's potential to teach about the challenges of living with serious chronic illness. Two years of second-year medical students (N = 32) from The University of Arizona, working in groups of two or three, were paired with patients and filmed multiple home visits during eight months. Students edited their films to 7 to 10 minutes and added transitions, titles, and music. A mixed audience of students and faculty viewed the resulting 12 films in a "Video Slam." Faculty also used the films in the formal curriculum to illustrate teaching points related to chronic illness. Student filmmakers, on average, made 4.4 visits, collected 5.6 hours of film, and edited for 26.6 hours. Students reported that the project affected what they planned to cover in clinic visits, increased their plans to involve patients in care, enhanced their appreciation for patient-centered care, improved their knowledge of community resources, improved their understanding of allied health professionals' roles, and taught them about patients' innovative adaptations. Overall, students rated the project highly for its impact on their education (mean = 4.52 of 5). Student and faculty viewers of the films (N = 74) found the films compelling (mean = 4.95 of 5) and informative (mean = 4.93 of 5). The authors encountered the ethical dilemmas of deciding who controls the patients' recorded stories and navigating between patient anonymity/confidentiality and allowing patients to use their stories to teach.
• Gordon, P., Tomasa, L., & Kerwin, J. (2004). ACGME Outcomes Project: selling our expertise. Family medicine, 36(3), 164-7.
  More info

  The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Outcomes Project emphasizes competency outcome assessment by residency programs. Many residency programs are unprepared to undertake valid competency assessments. Family medicine educators, however, often have substantial experience in competency-based evaluation. We developed a program, with more than 240,000 US dollars of funding from our dean's office, through which our family medicine educational unit provided support to more than 60 residency programs in various specialties. This program assisted directors of these 60 programs to understand the ACGME competency domains, develop measurable competencies for their discipline, and develop evaluation tools to assess those competencies. We were thus able to "sell" our expertise to other programs and generate income for our department.

Presentations

• Tomasa, L. T. (2020, December). Planning for Our Futures: Who What When Where and How. Webinar on Tools for Person Driven Planning. Pennsylvania (virtual): Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN).
• Tomasa, L. T. (2020, March). Belonging and Inclusion: Supporting Individuals and Families Throughout the Future Planning Process. Chautauqua Conference on Family Resilience. Tulsa, Oklahoma: Oklahoma State University.
• Tomasa, L. T. (2017, January). End of Life Planning. Tucson ALS Society Support Group. Tucson, AZ: Tucson ALS Society.
• Tomasa, L. T. (2016, November). Future Planning: A Roadmap Created by You. Hispanic Self Advocacy Group Meeting. Phoenix, Az: Hispanic Self Advocacy Group.
• Tomasa, L. T. (2016, November). Providing High Quality Health Care Experiences for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Optum Medical Director Forum. Las Vegas, NV: Optum.
• Susan, K. S., Shirai, Y., & Tomasa, L. T. (2012, Nov). Grieving Support Group with Creative-Aerial Movement for Adults with Developmental Disabilities. annual meetings of the Gerontological Society of America. San Diego, CA.

Poster Presentations

• Emmert, C., Farkas, J., & Tomasa, L. T. (2017, November). Person-Centered Planning for Youth with IDD Transitioning Out of Foster Care: Through the Lens of Foster Youth and Facilitators. AUCD Annual Conference. Washington, DC: The Association of University Centers on Disabilities.
• Tomasa, L. T. (2017, June). How Research on Future Planning Can Inform the Roles Health Care Providers and Service Professionals Play in Promoting the Wellbeing of Individuals with Disabilities and Families. AAIDD Annual Conference. Hartford, CT: American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
• Tomasa, L. T. (2017, October). Future Planning: Working Together to Create a Roadmap of Our Wishes, Our Futures. Pacific Rim International Conference on Disability and Diversity. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Center on Disability Studies.
• Shirai, Y., Susan, K. S., & Tomasa, L. T. (2011, Nov). Flying Together Beyond Loss: Grieving Support for Adults with Developmental Disabilities via Aerial and Movement Art.. annual meetings of the Association of University Centers on Disabilities. Washington. DC.

Other Teaching Materials

• Tomasa, L. T. (2017. Promoting the Wellbeing of Individuals with IDD Through Research. AAIDD.