Nursing Care of Older Adults Florida International University Lessons Learned/Advice to Schools To properly gerontologize an undergraduate nursing curriculum, full integration of geriatric content and creation of a geriatric stand-alone course are both required. The student is introduced course by course, to geriatric concepts that have been integrated progressively into the curriculum. Then, in the senior year, the student takes the gerontology-specific course, "which brings it all together," synthesizing all the knowledge and experience he/she has had to that point. Faculty buy-in is essential to the process, and takes a long time to gender. Faculty must understand that regardless of specialties, their patient populations include older adults, and therefore they have only to benefit by inclusion of gerontology in their curricula. Allow time for all faculty to understand and fully accept these goals, and include opportunities for criticism and debate. All of these courses are vitally important for us. After all, our students need to be well prepared, so they can care for us as we age! Grant Innovations Page | Project Main Page | AACN Home Copyright © 2005 by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. All rights reserved.