- Make gerontological nursing course mandatory.
- Figure out a way to capture student attention, from the
moment they walk into the classroom on the first day.
- Provide as much diversity as possible, both clinically
and didactically. For instance, we recruited guest speakers
from outside the School of Nursing. Internally, some of
our nursing school speakers boasted expertise in research,
while others were clinical specialists.
- Students need lots of specific, challenging assignments
to become engaged and to stay interested.
- Your faculty/student ratio at your clinical sites should
be smaller than the norm-this extra one-on-one attention
is vital, given the student's need to learn the subtleties
in symptom presentation among the elderly population.
- Hand-pick staff nurses at clinical sites to be mentors,
and follow-up with them. Because they are trained practitioners,
not teachers, they will require your help to assume this
mentor role. Their positive influence on your impressionable
students can be quite extraordinary and long-lasting.
- Don't offer this course on Friday afternoons. Many working
students have weekend jobs that begin at 3:00 p.m. on Fridays.
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