Improving the Care of Acutely Ill Elders
| Older Adults Are a Hospital's CORE Business
Professor and Director, The John A. Hartford Foundation Institute for Geriatric Nursing NYU College of Nursing Presented at AACN Spring Annual Meeting, March 12, 2006 |
Improving the health of North Carolina's elderly population by bringing education and training in geriatric care to nurses in rural or underserved areas is the goal of a partnership between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing and the North Carolina Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) program.
"North Carolina's elderly population is growing rapidly, but few nurses are formally trained in geriatric nursing," said Dr. Mary H. Palmer, UNC Umphlet Distinguished Professor in Aging in the School of Nursing. "Our program uses innovative geriatric clinical simulations to educate nurses so they can recognize and respond to changes in acutely ill patients, and improve the quality of their responses, ultimately leading to better patient outcomes."
Funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the UNC Nursing School started the program, Improving the Nursing Care of Acutely Ill Elders, in 2003.
 John Gotelli, MSN, NP Geriatric Nurse Practitioner UNC Hospitals |
"In just three years, we've had 300 nurses from 50 counties in North Carolina sign up to increase their geriatric nursing knowledge and competency," Palmer said, "but not every nurse can travel to Chapel Hill. The AHEC partnership and additional federal funding means School of Nursing faculty can take the training directly to nurses working in rural and underserved areas."
The program is underway in two rural/underserved regions of North Carolina including a five-county area where, according to U.S. census data, the poverty rate is 20.4 percent for persons aged 65 years and older. The state average for this age group is 13.7 percent.
School of Nursing faculty is working with AHEC nurses to set up their own workshops using geriatric clinical simulations. AHEC will provide the nurses and nursing assistants with access to state-of-the-art computerized mannequins for the clinical simulations.
The mannequin, called Stan (short for Standard Man), is manufactured by Medical Education Technologies, Inc. of Sarasota, Florida. Stan's cardiac, neurological, and respiratory systems can be programmed to imitate the health conditions of either a man or woman, and can react to changes in real time. These real-time scenarios allow nurses to practice treating and reacting to a variety of acute health conditions prevalent in older adults.
"Program evaluations have shown a statistically significant increase in geriatric treatment knowledge for program participants," said Dr. Vicki Kowlowitz, clinical associate professor and director of the School of Nursing's Center for INstructional Technology and Educational Support. "Additionally, evaluations completed by participants have been overwhelmingly positive."
The School of Nursing has created nearly 30 interactive online clinical simulations since the program began in 2003, each one adjusted for three specific levels of learner: the registered nurse, the licensed practical nurse, and the nursing assistant.
A virtual Center for Geriatric Clinical Simulations is being readied to disseminate the simulations to nurses throughout the state and beyond. In addition, the School of Nursing Continuing Education Department will administer American Nurses' Credentialing Center contact hour credits for nurses who complete the online simulations. For more information about the electronic library of geriatric simulations, see http://nursing.gero.unc.edu.
"In the end, it's about providing better care for our nation's older adults. We're starting in North Carolina, but we believe this program has the potential to expand nationwide," Palmer said.
Front row, L-R: Rumay Alexander, Susan Collins, Vicki Kowlowitz,
Sonda Oppewal, Jill Passmore
Back row, L-R: Carolyn Davenport, Gail Mazzocco, Polly Godwin-Welsh,
Pam Jenkins, Mary H. Palmer, Carol Durham, Florence Soltys, Kay Hengeveld
Contact Us
For more information about Improving the Care of Acutely Ill Elders, contact Kay Hengeveld.
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