The Longitudinal Elder Initiative: helping students learn to care for older adults.

This paper describes an educational innovation called the Longitudinal Elder Initiative (LEI), which was developed by a BSN program to improve students' knowledge about the health needs and nursing care of older adults. In the LEI, new nursing students are paired with older adults in the community and develop a relationship with them over the duration of the nursing program. Students complete a variety of assignments designed to facilitate learning gerontological nursing concepts. They also complete specific assessments designed to target common problems in aging. Students develop nursing care plans and interventions during the course of the project and monitor progress toward goals over time. Through the LEI, students develop relationships with older adults in the community and view their health changes longitudinally. In addition, students can observe how social, financial, and health-related factors affect health and well-being over time.