AACN HARTFORD INSTITUTE
JOIN TO HONOR INNOVATIVE GERONTOLOGY EDUCATION
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 2, 1997 -- In a
partnership with the John A. Hartford Foundation Institute
for Geriatric Nursing (Hartford Institute), the American
Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) will use the occasion
of its fall 1998 semiannual meeting in Washington, D.C.,
to confer the Hartford Institute's first award to an institution
to honor exemplary gerontology nursing education.
The award, the Baccalaureate Nursing
Award for Exceptional Curriculum in Geriatrics,
will be presented by the Hartford Institute to recognize
an institution's exceptional, substantive, and innovative
baccalaureate nursing curriculum in gerontology education.
"We are proud that the Hartford Institute
has chosen to collaborate with AACN in rewarding and bringing
to public attention educational programs that are breaking
vitally important new ground. As the health system realigns
to meet the needs of a fast-expanding elderly population,
the skills being taught by these outstanding programs increasingly
will be part of every nurse's repertoire," says AACN
President Carole A. Anderson, PhD, RN, FAAN.
"The overwhelming majority of nurses
practicing in this country today are, by default, geriatric
nurses. It falls to the entry-level professional nurse to
assure that the elderly receive optimum nursing care. And
it falls to baccalaureate nursing schools to optimally prepare
their nursing students for their responsibilities to the
elderly," says Professor Mathy Mezey, EdD, RN, FAAN,
director of the Hartford Institute located at the New York
University Division of Nursing.
Founded in 1996 and the first of its kind
in the nation, the Hartford Institute is working to develop
and implement a comprehensive national agenda for improved
geriatric nursing practice. The Hartford Institute's programs,
which will focus on improving practice through curriculum
and leadership development, promoting practice improvements
in clinical settings, and communication and dissemination
of research advances and training information, aim at highlighting
the growing importance of nurses as the primary providers
of day-to-day care for elderly patients in homes, hospitals,
and long-term care facilities. The institute also focuses
on emphasizing nurses' roles as leaders in reshaping geriatric
health care through practice, research, and policy, and
will serve as a national repository for information on geriatric
nursing care.
"While graduate programs prepare nurses
to provide high-quality geriatric care as nurse practitioners
or clinical specialists, it is at the basic undergraduate
level where nursing schools must expand their efforts to
stimulate students' interest in pursuing gerontology careers
and to lay the foundations of students' understanding of
essential geriatric care principles," Dr. Anderson
explains. "Responding effectively to complications
of illness, helping patients maintain compliance to medications,
teaching family members to provide on-going care at home,
and teaching patients preventive care to reduce the risk
of falls and other accidents that lead to hospitalization
-- all are vital aspects of nursing care affecting not only
the nation's over-65 population, but particularly the increasing
numbers of Americans who are over 75, frail, and needing
the high-quality care and services coordination that nurses
provide."
The U.S. Census Bureau projects that by 2030,
the elderly will comprise about one-fifth of the U.S. population,
growing to between 59 million and 78 million, up from only
one-eighth in 1990. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics, employment for registered nurses will grow faster
than the average for all occupations through 2005, due largely
to the health care needs of a rapidly expanding aging population
that is living longer. By 2005, job growth among RNs is
expected to climb as much as 30 percent, compared to an
average of 14 percent for all occupations.
The institution awarded first place will
win the Hartford Institute's $1,000 grand prize; two semifinalist
institutions will be awarded $500 each. In addition, these
institutions will be showcased as educational leaders in
nursing.
The American Association of Colleges
of Nursing is the national voice for university and four-year-college
education programs in nursing. Representing more than 580
member schools of nursing at public and private institutions
nationwide, AACN's educational, research, governmental advocacy,
data collection, publications, and other programs work to
establish quality standards for bachelor's- and graduate-degree
nursing education, assist deans and directors to implement
those standards, influence the nursing profession to improve
health care, and promote public support of baccalaureate
and graduate nursing education, research, and practice.
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CONTACT: Robert Rosseter
(202) 463-6930, x231
rrosseter@aacn.nche.edu
