AACN, in collaboration with the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing at New York University College of Nursing, administers two complementary HGNI programs.

The first is a project to ensure that the Advanced Practice Registered Nursing (APRN) workforce is prepared to care for older adults. The Consensus Model for APRN Regulation (2008) requires programs preparing adult or gerontology NPs or CNSs to significantly expand the curriculum to prepare graduates to provide care across the entire adult age spectrum. The transition to this new education model requires the redesign of NP and CNS programs preparing graduates to care for adults.  AACN and the Hartford Institute developed education competencies and created the APRN Resource Center to aid in this transition. The resources and strategies, including case studies, learning modules, and curricular models, are geared for Primary and Acute Care Adult NP, Adult CNS faculty, and other faculty preparing NPs or CNSs to care for older adults (e.g. FNPs, WHNPs, Women’s Health CNSs).

Learn more: www.aacn.nche.edu/geriatric-nursing/aprn-education-project

The second program is the Geriatric Nursing Education Consortium (GNEC).  GNEC is a national initiative to enhance geriatric content in senior-level undergraduate nursing courses. GNEC focuses on providing nursing educators with the skills, knowledge, and resources needed to ensure that “best geriatric practices” are embedded in baccalaureate curricula and subsequently in the clinical care provided by newly educated nurses.  As a result of this initiative, faculty at a majority of the baccalaureate schools of nursing across the country have been educated in the fundamentals of geriatric nursing and the use of geriatric curriculum resources. GNEC’s primary goal is to support and empower baccalaureate nursing faculty as they champion geriatric education, train other faculty, and oversee revision of the senior-level undergraduate curriculum at their home institutions.   

Learn more: www.aacn.nche.edu/geriatric-nursing/gnec