| Purpose
To increase geriatric nursing
content in baccalaureate and advanced practice nursing programs.
Awards grant monies to baccalaureate and higher degree schools
of nursing.
The Issue
America's older adult population
is the fastest growing segment of the population in the United
States. There are 25 million Americans over the age of 65
today. Nursing plays an essential role in providing acute
and chronic care, health education, and health promotion to
these older Americans.
Academia and professional
nursing organizations have attempted to increase the quality
and number of America's foremost primary caregiver, the registered
professional nurse, for the geriatric population. These efforts,
however, have not adequately increased the number of nurses
prepared to address the dramatically increasing demand for
care of older adults. A concentrated effort is needed to stimulate
innovations in geriatric curriculum and clinical experiences
so that institutions of higher education and health care systems
may increase their capacity to train future nurses in geriatric
care.
The Opportunity
In June 2001, the American
Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) received a $3.99
million grant from The John A. Hartford Foundation of New
York that champions innovation in geriatric nursing education
programs. Open to all baccalaureate and graduate schools of
nursing, grant monies were awarded to support gerontology
curriculum development and new clinical experiences. This
generous grant will enable nursing students to develop the
specialized skills needed to provide high quality care to
older adults.
In the area of undergraduate
education, the grant will assist nursing schools in adapting
their gerontology curriculum based upon national education
and practice standards, such as those developed by The John
A. Hartford Foundation Institute for Geriatric Nursing in
collaboration with AACN. Funds will be disseminated to institutions
that provide an innovative plan of action that reflects these
nationally recognized benchmarks for effective gerontological
nursing education.
In a parallel initiative
for graduate programs, the grant allows for the development
of a set of core gerontological competencies for all advanced
practice nurses who provide care to older adults but are not
specialists in gerontology. In addition, funds will be awarded
to schools to integrate these newly identified competencies
into advanced practice nursing programs and to develop models
of excellence that may be adopted by the broader graduate
nursing education community.
A national advisory committee
has been selected to guide and direct AACN in the administration
of the grant. Advisory committee members are expert leaders
of baccalaureate and graduate geriatric nursing education
programs.
Selection Criteria
Funded projects will demonstrate
the development, implementation, and evaluation of geriatric
curriculum and clinical experiences that can serve as models
of care delivery to older adults.
Programs are using the award
monies to accomplish a variety of objectives, which include:
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- redesign of existing gerontology curriculum;
- faculty development in the specialty of gerontology;
- development of innovative clinical experiences;
- development of new leaders in geriatric practice;
and
- improved utilization of available resources through
the development of collaborative/consortia groups
in gerontology.
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Awardees will be encouraged
to seek both in-kind support and matching funds from an array
of community-based sources.
Outcomes
Award recipients will generate
a broad array of products and models that will be disseminated
to the full body of collegiate nursing programs that includes
661 baccalaureate and 382 graduate programs. The expectation
is that the work of the awardees will be replicated and improved
upon many times over to create a continuously evolving education
model to promote quality care for older Americans. All awardees
will communicate their innovations to the nursing community
by monographs, curricular models, program contacts, presentations
at future AACN conferences, and posting of innovations on
AACN's Web site.
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