Development of core competencies and a recognition program for gerontological nursing educators.

Despite efforts to implement learner competencies in gerontological nursing, a significant knowledge-attitude disassociation remains, with few students interested in pursuing careers in the care of older adults. One reason may be the lack of well-qualified faculty who can design engaging learning experiences with older adults and serve as positive role models for aging care. In response, the National Hartford Center of Gerontological Nursing Excellence commissioned the development of core competencies and a recognition program for educators in gerontological nursing.

Best practices for learning physiology: combining classroom and online methods.

Physiology is a requisite course for many professional allied health programs and is a foundational science for learning pathophysiology, health assessment, and pharmacology. Given the demand for online learning in the health sciences, it is important to evaluate the efficacy of online and in-class teaching methods, especially as they are combined to form hybrid courses. The purpose of this study was to compare two hybrid physiology sections in which one section was offered mostly in-class (85% in-class), and the other section was offered mostly online (85% online).

Facilitated Learning to Advance Geriatrics: Increasing the Capacity of Nurse Faculty to Teach Students About Caring for Older Adults.

Purpose: The Facilitated Learning to Advance Geriatrics program (FLAG) was designed to increase the numbers of nurse faculty in prelicensure programs with basic knowledge about aging and teaching effectiveness to prepare students to provide safe, high quality care for older adults.

Methods: Using a framework to improve transfer of learning, FLAG was designed to include: (a) a workshop to increase basic knowledge of aging and common geriatric syndromes, and effective use of evidence-based teaching/learning strategies; (b) a year-long mentoring program to support application of workshop learning and leading change in participants' schools to ensure that geriatrics is a priority. Both formative and summative evaluation methods were used, and included self-assessment of objectives, program satisfaction, and teaching self-efficacy.

Designing a measure of Complexity Compression in registered nurses.

Researchers in Minnesota have described and validated the phenomenon of Complexity Compression in qualitative studies of registered nurses. Analysis of themes from this research led to the design of a survey to assess nurses' agreement with variables that contribute to their experience of Complexity Compression. The survey was administered to a random sample of 199 registered nurses in Minnesota.

Teaching the teacher: the Faculty Learning About Geriatrics (FLAG) program.

As the number of individuals older than 65 years increases, there is a concomitant need for more nurses to provide care meeting the unique needs of older adults. The nursing shortage presents a challenge to schools of nursing to educate enough practitioners in geriatric nursing. The John A.

The potential role of strongyloides robustus on parasite-mediated competition between two species of flying squirrels (Glaucomys).

There is growing evidence that populations of the northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus) are declining in the eastern United States, perhaps due to competition with the southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans). Potential causes include parasite-mediated or apparent competition from the shared intestinal nematode, Strongyloides robustus, which has been shown to detrimentally affect the northern flying squirrel but not the southern flying squirrel. To investigate this hypothesis, we conducted a preliminary study on the parasite community of both flying squirrel species from sites in Pennsylvania where the two species occur sympatrically and where G.

Predictors of nursing home admission for persons with dementia.

Objective: The objective of this systematic review was to identify factors that consistently predict nursing home admission (NHA) in persons with dementia.

Methods: Studies published in English were retrieved by searching the MEDLINE (1966-2006), PSYCINFO (1950-2006), CINAHL (1982-2006), and Digital Dissertations (1950-2006) databases. Bibliographies of retrieved studies were also searched.

GAPN postacute care coordination improves hip fracture outcomes.

We tested the effectiveness of a nursing intervention model to improve health, function, and return-home outcomes in elders with hip fracture via a 2-year randomized clinical trial. Thirty three elders (age > 65 years) were tracked from hospital discharge to 12 months postfracture. The treatment group had a gerontologic advanced practice nurse as postacute care coordinator for 6 months who intervened with each elder regardless of the postacute care setting, making biweekly visits and/or phone calls.

Complexity compression: nurses under fire.

It has been documented that up to 40% of the workday of nurses is taken up by meeting the ever-increasing demands of the systems of healthcare delivery in which nurses are employed. These demands include the need for increasing documentation, for learning new and seemingly ever-changing procedures, and for adapting to turnover in management and administration. Attention to these issues also means that 40% of that workday is not available to patients.

Sacred cows and sympathetic squirrels: the importance of biological diversity to human health.

Dobson and colleagues describe how some host species act to reduce the risk of transmission of virulent zoonotic pathogens to humans.

Development and validation of a screen for specialized discharge planning services.

Background: There is no rigorously developed and empirically validated screening tool to identify, early in the hospital stay, those adults who will use specialized hospital discharge planning services.

Objectives: To develop and validate a screen using hospital admission clinical data that discriminates between adults who use and do not use specialized discharge planning services.

Methods: Subjects consisted of prospectively sampled adult patients admitted to two hospitals located in a Midwestern United States city in 1998 (tool development sample, n = 991) and 2002 (validation sample, n = 303).

Improving resident outcomes with GAPN organization level interventions.

This research tested the effectiveness of the second tier of interventions in a two-tiered nursing intervention model designed to improve quality of care for residents in long-term care facilities (LTCFs). The first tier of the model called for gerontological advanced practice nurses (GAPNs) to provide direct care and to teach staff to implement care protocols for residents with incontinence, pressure ulcers, depression, and aggression. Results of the first-tier study indicated significant improvement in resident outcomes in incontinence, pressure ulcers, and aggression.

Exploring the connection between self-efficacy and effective diabetes self-management.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to review the existing empirical evidence about factors that contribute to effective diabetes self-management as indicated by healthy outcomes in persons with the disease, with a specific focus on self-efficacy, to determine the link between learned self-efficacy and effective diabetes self-management in adults.

Methods: A systematic review was conducted of the extant literature from 1985-2001 that described factors related to effective self-management of diabetes. The review included theoretical and empirical articles.

Translation and equivalence: the Profile of Mood States Short Form in English and Chinese.

As international research collaborations increase, health care professionals are becoming more aware of the advantages of using common measures to compare outcomes of assessments across cultures. Measuring mood states across diverse cultures is important for understanding the universal aspects of mood and measuring outcomes of nursing interventions. The purpose of this article is to describe the process used to translate the Profile of Mood States Short Form from English to Chinese and to assess the equivalence of this instrument in the two languages.

Facilitators and barriers to elders' practice of t'ai chi. A mind-body, low-intensity exercise.

Research has documented the positive effects that t'ai chi has on the well-being of elders. However, the reasons that elders practice t'ai chi have not been explored. The purpose of this study was to describe the facilitators and barriers to t'ai chi practice in elderly populations.

Clinical use of tai chi in elderly populations.

Tai chi, a type of low-intensity exercise, has received growing attention in both eastern and western cultures, especially its use with the most rapidly increasing segment of the population-elders. Previous research findings further supported the idea that tai chi is appropriate for elderly populations and helps promote their well-being. In this article, the beneficial effects of tai chi for elders are summarized, resources to increase awareness about the exercise are provided, and ways to promote tai chi in elderly populations are suggested.

Better care in nursing homes: advanced practice nurses' strategies for improving staff use of protocols.

This article describes a set of strategies used by gerontologic advanced practice nurses (GAPNs) in three nursing homes to integrate the use of protocols into the daily care of residents. The protocols were developed as part of a larger study on the quality of care in nursing homes carried out by nurse researchers at the University of Minnesota and funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research (R01-NR03490). The GAPNs worked regularly with nursing home staff to incorporate aspects of protocols into daily care routines for residents with four specific problems common in elderly residents of nursing homes: pressure ulcers, incontinence, depression, and aggressive behavior.

Value-added outcomes: the use of advanced practice nurses in long-term care facilities.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect on clinical outcomes for newly admitted nursing home residents when advanced practice gerontological nurses (APNs) worked with staff to implement scientifically based protocols for incontinence, pressure ulcers, depression, and aggressive behavior. Use of APNs in this manner differs from the usual way APNs have been used in nursing homes, in which their primary focus has been to augment the physician's role. The APN treatment was randomly assigned to two nursing homes and usual care was assigned to a third.

The interplay of institution and family caregiving: relations between patient hassles, nursing home hassles and caregivers' burnout.

This population-based study investigated the relationship between stresses (hassles) and burnout for 30 family caregivers and their institutionalized demented elderly. The Burnout Measure, the Patient Hassles Scales and the Nursing Home Hassles Scale were used. Hassles included: patient hassles (cognitive, behavior, basic ADL) and nursing home hassles (caregiver - staff, patient - staff, practical/logistical).

Development of a measure of resident satisfaction with the nursing home.

A satisfaction instrument specifically designed for use with nursing home residents, the Satisfaction with the Nursing Home Instrument (SNHI), was developed and tested with a sample of 110 nursing home residents from three proprietary facilities in Minnesota. As hypothesized, significant relationships were found between SNHI scores and measures of affect (negatively associated with depression and positively associated with morale), providing support for the construct validity of the scale. The lack of a significant relationship between SNHI scores and both age and mental status confirmed the predicted divergent validity of the instrument.

Assessment of depression in a population at risk ... newly admitted nursing home residents.

Depression in newly admitted nursing home residents is a frequently overlooked area of nursing concern. Educating staff to systematically use a standardized depression assessment protocol with all newly admitted residents would facilitate efforts to enhance the quality of residents' lives by identifying depression so that prompt treatment is possible. Other previously admitted residents who appear to be particularly vulnerable to depression would also benefit from this assessment.

Progress in the moral reasoning of baccalaureate nursing students between program entry and exit.

Changes in moral reasoning between entry into and exit from a baccalaureate nursing program and the relationship between student characteristics and moral reasoning at entry and exit were explored in this descriptive study. The moral reasoning of four cohorts of students was measured using the Defining Issues Test (DIT). Admission grade point average, prior college credits, and gender accounted for 10% of the variance in DIT P% scores at entry and 14% of the variance at exit from the program.

The clinical evaluation tool: a measure of the quality of clinical performance of baccalaureate nursing students.

This article describes an approach to the evaluation of students' clinical performance. Specifically, the paper describes: (a) the history of the evaluation of clinical performance in nursing education; (b) the development of the Clinical Evaluation Tool (CET), an instrument designed to measure the clinical performance of nursing students across settings; and (c) the relationships between basic baccalaureate nursing students' scores on the CET and the following variables: age, college credits earned prior to entry to the program, grade point average at entry, college aptitude, and moral reasoning.