HGNI New Directions

Welcome to New Directions, a publication of the Hartford Geriatric Nursing Initiative (HGNI). This e-newsletter is designed to inform interested academic and practice leaders, faculty members, students, practitioners and others about the work of the HGNI and provide the latest news and information relevant to geriatric nursing.

As many of you know, the HGNI is preparing professional nurses to play leadership roles in improving the health of older adults. In partnership with the nation's nursing schools and a variety of health care organizations and systems, this dynamic, national initiative, supported through a $38 million investment from The John A. Hartford Foundation, works in five areas, including:

Shaping nursing practice to best meet the health care needs of older adults;

Enhancing professional education to ensure all nurses are prepared to treat older patients;

Promoting research needed to guide the care and promote the health of older people;

Developing leadership in academic and professional settings; and

Demonstrating nursing's commitment to enacting public policy that improves older Americans' health care.

We are proud to represent this critically needed effort, which is involving the nation's top nurses-including you-in making a difference in the health care of our nation's older adults. If you would like more contact information about, and links to all of the programs of the HGNI, please visit the HGNI's Web site at www.HGNI.org.

In this Issue

1. Summer HGNI Activities
2. Excellent Ratings for First HGNI "Webinar"
3. Tools, Resources & Opportunities
4. HGNI Success Stories
5. Link of the Month: A Profile of Older Americans 2004

Please note: New Directions will take a summer hiatus and will return in September.

1. Summer HGNI Activities

A Message from the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing at NYU and The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN)
For many, the summer months offer a brief respite from our busy schedules, giving us a chance to step back and reflect. We encourage you to consider your courses and curriculum and look at the wealth of available geriatric nursing resources that are highlighted in this and past issues of the HGNI newsletter.

Resources are available through the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Geriatric Nursing Education Project, and include baccalaureate and advanced practice geriatric competency documents and curriculum innovations.

Also, visit the Hartford Institute's Web site to view award-winning abstracts from the AACN/Hartford Institute Award for Baccalaureate Education in Geriatric Nursing.

Begin Your BAGNC Scholar And Fellows Awards Application!
The Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity Scholar & Fellows program has now supported 106 Scholars and Fellows. These awards offer significant financial support as well as an unprecedented opportunity to participate in a growing network of leaders in geriatric nursing education, research, and practice. In the words of Laurie Popejoy, a 2002-2004 Predoctoral Scholar, "I have experienced amazing opportunities to meet the premier gerontological nursing experts of our time. The challenges of being a doctoral student appear to be unending, but these challenges are much easier to overcome when you receive the unwavering support of colleagues and mentors." Applications for the 2006-2008 BAGNC Scholar & Fellow Awards are now available here.

Homework for 2004-2006 and 2005-2007 BAGNC Scholars
Plan for you and your mentor to attend the 2005 Leadership Conference scheduled for November 16-18, 2005 in New Orleans. Visit www.geriatricnursing.org for an update on this year's event. Registration details will be sent out via e-mail at the end of August.

Also, check out information about the GSA meeting immediately following the conference. For more information, click here.

2. Excellent Ratings for First HGNI "Webinar"

The first HGNI Web-based seminar ("webinar"), "Thinking Inside the Box: A Strategic Approach to Powerful Posters," held on June 7, 2005 was a resounding success, with 100% of participants saying they would recommend it to their colleagues. More than 20 nursing faculty from around the country participated in the session, which included a presentation about creating powerful posters and review of posters from several participants. If you were not able to participate in this webinar, but would like to in the future, please contact Chris Gherst at cgherst@aboutscp.com or 610.687.5495. Also, a recording of the webinar will be posted on www.hgni.org later this summer.

We want to hear from you!
Please click here to complete a very brief training survey that will help us design the Web-based courses and training that you want most.

3. Tools, Resources and Opportunities

Introducing "Research Highlights," A New Feature on HGNI.org!
Beginning in September, HGNI.org will feature the work of scholars in a new section of the site called "Research Highlights." This feature is the start of an HGNI project to develop a database of scholars to share research, link those who are conducting similar research, and create a resource for nurses and other disciplines involved in aging research. Topic areas will include:

acute care;

caregiver/family;

community-based care;

cultural/ethnic/minority issues;

delirium, dementia/Alzheimer's;

disease management;

evidence-based practice;

gero-psychology;

long-term care/rehab and end-of-life care;

models of care; preventative/primary care;

skin/wound/pressure ulcers; and

transfer of care.

If you are interested in sharing your work as part of this exciting new resource, please contact Chris Gherst. If your topic of research is not on the list above, please let us know!

Call for Nominations: Springer Award in Geriatric/Gerontologic Nursing
Co-sponsored by the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing, the annual Springer Award recognizes a distinguished single work of research in applied geriatric nursing. The award, which will be presented in November at the Geriatric Nursing Interest Group meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, includes $500 and consideration for publication by Springer Publishing Co. in either book format or journal article. Eligible candidates for the award are nurses whose work applies to improving the nursing care of older adults. Submission requirements for the award are: three copies of double-spaced typescript; five-page maximum description of research and its significance for practice; two-page curriculum vitae; and letter of endorsement from dean or supervisor. Submissions must be received by September 30, 2005. Faxes are not accepted. Mail applications to:

Springer Publishing Co.
536 Broadway
New York, NY 10012
Attn: Sheri Sussman

Hartford Institute Session at National Nurse Staff Development Organization (NNSDO) Conference in July
The Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing is conducting a session at the upcoming National Nurse Staff Development Organization (NNSDO) Annual Convention in New Orleans on July 23, 2005 (8:30 AM-10 AM). The session, "Enhancing Nurse Competence in Aging Through Staff Development Education," will feature resources and strategies to enhance nursing care of older adults. For more information about the conference, click here and go to: "Program and Events."

Geriatric Education Nursing Project: Showcasing Curriculum Grant Innovations
Each month, the AACN geriatric education Web site showcases a stand-alone course from a Hartford-awarded school's geriatric nursing program. This month features Otterbein College and its two modules, Views on Aging Through Literature and Art and International Perspectives on Issues on Aging, which adapt a conventional didactic nursing course into an innovative, two-credit online undergraduate elective. Unlike other newly created stand-alone courses, this elective is devoted entirely to student attitude development. The course is intended to create lifelong attitude change and set the stage for students' continued interest in and pursuit of gerontological nursing. To learn more about this course, click here.

Nursing Counts: Hartford Institute at NYU Policy Newsletter Highlights NICHE
Nursing Counts, a Hartford Institute newsletter, highlights data that illustrate the value of nursing and care of older adults. Nursing Counts appears three times a year in the American Journal of Nursing addressing community care (January 2005), hospital care (May 2005), and long term care (September 2005). The May 2005 issue highlighted the Hartford Institute's Nurses Improving Care to HealthSystem Elders (NICHE) Program as well as one hospital's strategies in caring for older adults. To view the May 2005 issue of Nursing Counts, click here. To view a complete listing of Nursing Counts issues, click here.

Nutrition and Mealtime Difficulties: Resources Available on GeroNurseOnline
While poor nutrition is not a natural result of aging, older adults who experience several concurrent diseases are at higher risk for under- or malnutrition. Persons who are underweight and those who are overweight often have loss of muscle mass, a compromised immune system and have increased complications and premature death. The progression to malnutrition is often insidious, and is often undetected. Nurses play a key role in prevention and early intervention of nutritional problems. To learn more about nutrition and mealtime difficulties for older adults visit, www.GeroNurseOnline.org and select "Mealtime Difficulties" from the geriatric topics menu.

Nurse's Notes for Healthy Aging: Age-related Vision Loss: Can We Prevent It?
The Merck Institute of Aging & Health (www.miahonline.org) features "Nurse's Notes for Healthy Aging," a bi-weekly series written by DeAnne Zwicker, MS, APRN, BC, a senior advisor for The John A. Hartford Foundation Institute for Geriatric Nursing. "Nurse's Notes for Healthy Aging" addresses common issues faced by older adults and their caregivers. The consumer-focused articles also link readers to additional online resources.

The current "Nurses Notes" article features prevention, identification, and treatment of age-related vision loss. For a complete listing of "Nurses Notes" click here.

Try This Assessment Series
Elder Abuse and Neglect Assessment
It is estimated that more than one million older Americans are victims of elder abuse and neglect annually. Clinicians under-report elder abuse and neglect, with only one in ten cases reported. This issue of the Try This Assessment Series was developed by The John A. Hartford Foundation Institute for Geriatric Nursing at NYU and authored by elder abuse expert and co-director of the Hartford Institute, Dr. Terry Fulmer. To view this issue of the Try This Assessment Series, click here. For a comprehensive listing of Try This Assessment Series and Try This Dementia Series issues, click here.

4. HGNI Success Stories

During the course of the year, we have learned about numerous "success stories" occurring throughout the HGNI in relation to recruiting and retaining individuals into geriatric nursing. Here, we highlight just a few:

The Oregon Consortium for Nursing Education is a coalition of community colleges and private and public university schools of nursing that is developing a shared, competency-based curriculum that will culminate in a bachelor's degree. Teams of experts from the coalition are meeting to develop different content elements of the curriculum, one of which is focusing specifically on the gerontological content to be included. Teams focusing on other content areas also have a strong representation of nurses who are educated in gerontology. The participants in this coalition are committed to shaping the curriculum to prepare new nurses to care for the aging population.

Also in Oregon, the Hartford CGNE at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) School of Nursing has organized the Northwest Coalition for Excellence in Geriatric Nursing Education, a coalition of 11 baccalaureate schools of nursing from Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. The coalition is involved in mapping each school's curriculum for geriatric nursing content, developing a Geriatric Instructional Resource Bank, and implementing a standardized test measuring the geriatric nursing knowledge of graduating nurses. For more information about these projects, contact Lissi Hansen at hansenli@ohsu.edu.

The University of California, San Francisco, is engaged in a project to develop a more flexible 3-year curriculum that will allow long-term care nurses with baccalaureate degrees to participate in the gerontology Master's program and advanced practice roles. To learn more, contact: Margaret Wallhagen at meg.wallhagen@nursing.ucsf.edu.

Learn about other innovative projects by clicking on the links below:

AACN/Hartford Institute Baccalaureate Awards in Geriatric Nursing

HRSA Grants: Geriatric Nursing Knowledge and Experience in Long-Term Care Facilities for Nursing Students and Geriatric Enhancement of Practicing Nurses.

5. Link of the Month: A Profile of Older Americans 2004

"A Profile of Older Americans: 2004," (US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Aging, May 2005) is an electronic version of the popular brochure with the latest statistics on older Americans in key subject areas. The profile includes both narrative and statistical charts. The 2004 edition is only available online.

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 Patty Franklin at Pfranklin@aannet.org, Deirdre Thornlow at dthornlo@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 to unsubscribe to this newsletter, please reply to this e-mail and type the word "Unsubscribe" in the subject line. For more information about the HGNI's ongoing Evaluation, please see: www.geriatricnursing.info.