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New Directions: The e-Newsletter of the Hartford Geriatric Nursing Initiative | |
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 Volume
4, Issue 1
September 28, 2006 Welcome
to New Directions, a publication of the
In
this Issue
1. Gero Images on the Web 2. Tools, Resources & Opportunities 3. Announcements 4. Link of the Month: Health Promotion Issue Briefs from the ASA 1.
Gero Images on the Web
Older adults are the core business of healthcare. Scan nursing schools’ Web sites, however, and few include pictures of older adults. This is particularly troubling given that 50 percent of nurses' hospital work days are spent delivering care to older adults, 70 percent of all home care visits go to older adults, and 63 percent of newly licensed nurses report that older adults compose a majority of their patient loads! Children are featured prominently on BSN Web sites, as are critical care patients, technological interventions, and nurses of different races, gender, and ages. But where are the older patients? The HGNI hopes that you and your school will be leaders in creating a more accurate representation of nursing and providing a balanced and positive view of adults across the lifespan. We encourage you to identify or create and add photographs of older adults to your school of nursing’s Web site. Email cgherst@aboutscp.com to share your success! Future issues of New Directions will include updates on your efforts. 2.
Tools, Resources & Opportunities
NEW! Check Out the Redesigned BAGNC Web site and Online Application! BAGNC's web site has started the academic year with a new look and added content. Go to www.geriatricnursing.org to see the changes. While a few pages are under construction, the site promises to be a useful resource to participants in the HGNI and to those interested in seeking contacts in academic geriatric nursing. With the redesigned web site comes a new and improved application system for applying for the 2007 BAGNC scholarships and Claire M. Fagin Fellowships. Please go to www.geriatricnursing.org/applications for application criteria. Spread the word—applications are due January 9, 2007. HGNI Leadership Conference This year’s HGNI Leadership Conference will be held in Dallas, TX, November 14-16, 2006. Please send your registration forms to Natasha Waples at nwaples@aannet.org by September 29, 2006 so we may plan accordingly. AACN to Offer Gerontology Faculty Development Institutes The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is pleased to announce the dates and locations of the first three Faculty Development Institutes offered through the Geriatric Nursing Education Consortium (GNEC).The GNEC is an innovative national initiative to enhance geriatric content in senior-level courses. Administered by AACN, this expertly designed program’s intent is to arm a cadre of nursing educators with the skills, knowledge, and resources to ensure that the best geriatric practices are imbedded within the framework of the senior-level curricula and subsequently in the clinical care provided by our newly educated nursing workforce. Using a “train-the-trainer” approach, an estimated 600 nurse faculty attending the GNEC institutes are expected to serve as leaders and mentors by sharing their new expertise with colleagues at their home institutions. This program is generously funded by The John A. Hartford Foundation through a $2.6 million grant titled Enhancing Gerontology Content in Senior-level Baccalaureate Courses. The first three Institutes are scheduled for June 27-29, 2007 in Portland, OR; October 3-5, 2007, in Atlanta, GA; and February 27-29, 2008 in San Antonio, TX. For more information on this program visit www.aacn.nche.edu/Education/Hartford/gnec.htm. Coming Soon! HCGNE Request for Proposals A request for proposals for new Hartford Centers of Geriatric Nursing Excellence will be released on October 29, 2006 at the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Fall Semiannual Meeting. Information regarding the RFP will be posted on the John A. Hartford Foundation web site at that time. Webcast—Immobility and Functional Decline: Avoiding the Spiral Do your hospital policies and practices hinder rather than help recovery for older adults? Older adults immobilized with bedrest and tethered with Foley catheters, IVs, and other devices that restrict mobility, can begin to lose functional capacity (a process known as deconditioning) within 48 hours. Deconditioning lengthens the recovery process, puts patients at risk for complications, and may require discharge to an intermediate care facility rather than a return to home—factors affecting quality and cost of care, and patient and staff satisfaction. Listen to the science and see how one facility is changing its policies and practices to create an elder-friendly environment that puts function first. Follow this link anytime to access the 30-minute webcast: www.NursingCenter.com/AJNolderadults . Based on the January 2006 American Journal of Nursing article "Functional Decline in Hospitalized Older Adults" by Carla Graf MS, RN, APRN, BC, this program will help all healthcare professionals look at their practices with a fresh eye and identify simple changes that prevent complex problems. Managers and administrators will also appreciate the perspectives presented. This program and all others in the New Look at the Old series will remain available, on demand, through 2007. This is the 11th in a series of 18 webcasts and is a collaborative effort among the American Journal of Nursing (AJN), the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), and Trinity Healthforce Learning, sponsored in part through grants from Atlantic Philanthropies. The broadcast series is designed to provide information and skills to improve the care and well-being of older adults. If you have any questions about the broadcast (or the associated print series), please contact Katherine Kany, Project Manager, at 703-729-6050 or katherinekany@adelphia.net. Hartford Institute Try This! Assessment Series Wandering in the Hospitalized Older Adult Research shows that the majority of ambulatory older adults with dementia wander at some time, whether they live at home or in a residential care facility. Hospital patients with dementia are at risk for wandering and getting lost either inside or outside the hospital, compounding the likelihood of serious negative outcomes. This Try This issue describes approaches to preventing/managing wandering. 3.
Announcements Recent Fellow & Scholar Accomplishments Lazelle E. Benefield, PhD, RN, 2003-2005 BAGNC Fellow from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, will be inducted as an American Academy of Nursing Fellow during the Academy's 33rd Annual Meeting & Conference on November 11, 2006, in Miami, FL. "The Academy is composed of many of the nation's top nursing executives, policy makers, scholars, researchers, and practitioners," said Academy President, Linda Burnes Bolton, DrPH, RN, FAAN. "Induction into the Academy represents an esteemed honor and recognition of outstanding achievement." Benefield is one of 55 new fellows. Selection criteria include evidence of significant contributions to nursing and health care. Each nominee must be sponsored by two current Academy Fellows. Selection is based, in part, on the extent to which nominees' nursing careers influence health policies for the benefit of all Americans, since the mission of the Academy is to serve the public and nursing profession by advancing health policy and practice through the generation, synthesis, and dissemination of nursing knowledge. Corjena Cheung, a doctoral student at the University of Minnesota and funded through the Nursing School Geriatric Investment Program, won the Best Dissertation Award from the MNRS Health Seeking Behaviors Section this past year. The title of her dissertation is “ Use of Complementary and Alternative Therapies in Community Dwelling Older Adults.” Hartford Initiatives Featured in Nursing Outlook The Hartford-funded Centers of Geriatric Nursing Excellence (HCGNE)—Oregon Health & Science University, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, University of California San Francisco, University of Iowa, and University of Pennsylvania—are the subject of the June/August special edition of Nursing Outlook. The five Centers, part of Hartford’s Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity (BAGNC) initiative, have significantly expanded the cadre of emerging geriatric nursing leaders through a variety of innovative efforts. Although different in their approaches, each Center developed their strengths to enhance clinical practice and models of care, improve education and training, implement better treatment methods, conduct research, and positively affect healthcare policies. The practices, materials, and models that have resulted are available to all nursing schools. This special issue of Nursing Outlook provides the historical framework for Hartford Centers of Nursing Excellence and provides a detailed look at each of the Center's programs and accomplishments in the areas of geriatric nursing practice, education, and research. The issue also highlights the BAGNC scholars and fellows programs and the American Academy of Nursing Coordinating Center. The final article in the journal discusses the major outcomes of the HCGNE and BAGNC initiative as well as additional results from the independent evaluation of the initiative. Lessons learned from this multifaceted initiative can be used by schools of nursing throughout the country to build geriatric nursing capacity within their institution and possibly develop other centers. Loan Repayment Program The National Institutes of Health offers Loan Repayment Programs that will repay half of qualified repayable educational debt in two years. In exchange for a two or three-year (for Intramural General Research) commitment to your research career, NIH will repay up to $35,000 per year of qualified educational debt. In addition, recipients can compete for additional loan repayments to repay remaining debt. See www.lrp.nih.gov/NIHLRP/about/index.htm for more details about the programs. Recap: Annual Hartford Institute Geriatric Nursing Research Scholars Program The Hartford Institute hosted its 8th annual Geriatric Nursing Research Scholars Program in July, with generous support from the American Academy of Nursing's Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity program. Fourteen Scholars and one Fellow participated in the week-long, intensive, summer seminar at New York University College of Nursing to foster successful programs of gerontologic research with significant implications for practice. OHSU's Patricia Archbold and Barbara Stewart joined Elizabeth Capezuti, Program Director, and NYU core faculty to work closely with participants to refine their research programs, hone specific research skills, and gain a competitive edge in obtaining funding. For more information about the 2006 program and participants, see www.nyu.edu/public.affairs/releases/detail/1138. For additional information about the workshop, see www.hartfordign.org/research/scholarsFellows/index.html. AACN Welcomes Laurie Dodge Laurie Dodge, MSN, ANP, GNP, joined the American Association of Colleges of Nursing on September 1, 2006. She is the project director for the Enhancing Gerontology Content in Senior-level Baccalaureate Courses grant. A former Creating Careers project investigator, Laurie comes to AACN as an experienced faculty member from the University Of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio School Of Nursing. At UTHSCSA, she established and directed the Gerontological Nurse Practitioner Program and maintained a geriatric specialized clinical practice. In 2005, Laurie was the recipient of a UTHSCSA President’s Teaching Excellence Award and was a nominee for the UTHSCSA President’s Clinical Excellence Award. Her special interests include maximizing quality of life and functional ability in the elderly, early detection and treatment of dementia, and standards of care for managing Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. Welcome! 4.
Link of the Month: Health Promotion Issue Briefs from the ASA
In order to make their Live Well, Live Long materials more accessible to professionals with limited time, the American Society on Aging (ASA) has created a new series of "issue briefs." These condensed discussions of the issues explored at length in the project's online modules are now available as PDF files on the project website (www.asaging.org/cdc/issue_briefs.cfm). The issue briefs currently available are: Write
to Us
We are committed to creating a monthly publication that serves your needs and interests. New Directions, therefore, welcomes your feedback and encourages you to supply ideas, stories, resources, news, and other content for subsequent issues. To make a contribution, please contact Pamela Dudzik at: pdudzik@aannet.org, Debbie Latimer at dlatimer@aacn.nche.edu, or Elaine Gould at elaine.gould@nyu.edu. Please
Note
If you know of someone or a group of people who would like to receive this newsletter, please send an email to John Beilenson at jbeilenson@aboutscp.com and we will subscribe them. If you have received this message in error or would like not to receive this newsletter, please reply to this e-mail and type “Delete from New Directions” in the subject line. For more information about the HGNI's ongoing evaluation, please see: www.geriatricnursing.info. If you have received this newsletter without graphics but would like to receive it with graphics, please write to John Beilenson at jbeilenson@aboutscp.com for instructions on how to view an HTML email, or go to: www.hgni.org. |
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Copyright 2006 Hartford Geriatric Nursing Initiative (HGNI) |