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Celebrating Ten Years of Improving Health Care for Older Adults
Making Best Geriatric Practice
Standard Practice

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Future Goals for Geriatric Nursing

No matter what their ailment, older adult patients are clearly best served by a health care team that includes nurses with specialized training in gerontology. Therefore, ultimately all nurses, working in all settings, need to have expertise in geriatric nursing, with the knowledge, skills and management support that reflects the reality that older patients are indeed the mainstay of health care business.

For ten years, the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing has gradually, steadfastly and remarkably successfully transformed geriatric nursing from an under-recognized and often unappreciated specialty into a centerpiece of nursing education and practice. The Hartford Institute has attracted funding, resources and attention and generated enthusiasm, support and legitimacy for the professional response needed to meet the needs of older patients. Moving forward, geriatric nursing is prepared to take its part in all of the challenges facing nursing as a profession and issues of health care for older adults.

To begin with, it is essential to address the nursing faculty shortage. The shortage of nurses is a well-known problem, which is made worse by a deficit of nursing faculty as current nursing professors advance toward retirement and not enough young academic nurses replace them. Faculty shortages contribute to a decline in nursing school enrollment at a time when these enrollments need to be rising. It is imperative to increase the number of faculty ready to teach nursing, and it is also essential to increase the ability of existing and new faculty to teach geriatrics. Government at all levels, along with private philanthropies, will have to play major roles in alleviating the nursing faculty shortage. By highlighting excellence in geriatric nursing and the importance of a growing segment of health care, the Nursing Institute is contributing to the faculty development and creation of rewarding careers needed to increase the number of nurses in the United States.

For those nurses in training, new mechanisms must be created to continue to increase the number of nurses with expertise in geriatrics, especially masters and doctorally prepared nurses. The Hartford Institute has made numerous inroads towards increasing competencies around aging for all nurses, and this work must continue and grow. Demographic changes in the United States, as well as the ever increasing employment options for young women, suggest that the traditional pool of future nurses will not be available to health care employers going forward. Colleges of nursing, employers of nurses and insurers will need to work collaboratively to continue to make nursing an attractive profession.

To optimize patient care in an ever more complex health delivery system, the role of nursing in translational research needs to be expanded. Research on quality care for older adult patients will not make a difference unless the latest knowledge from academic centers is effectively translated to care of patients' in all health care settings. Because nurses are responsible for implementing many assessments and procedures that influence patient care, nurses must take an even greater part in speeding innovations from research centers to everyday patient care. The institutions that train future nurses, the educational opportunities provided to current nurses, and the employers of nurses all have large stakes in creating the capacity of nurses to create and implement evidence-based nursing protocols and must support this work.

As part of its broad commitment to improve health care for older Americans, the John A. Hartford Foundation continues to support geriatric nursing through a variety of grant programs. The Hartford Geriatric Nursing Initiative (HGNI) prepares nurses to play leadership roles in improving the health of older adults. This national initiative works in partnership with the nation's nursing schools and a variety of health care organizations to shape nursing practice, enhance professional education, promote research, develop leadership in academic and professional settings, and influence public policy. Between 1996 and 2006 the Foundation's Trustees authorized a total of $59.7 million in support of geriatric nursing. The Hartford Institute's groundbreaking work for geriatrics in nursing has made all these subsequent initiatives possible, ensuring that older patients receive the highest quality care. Visit the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing Web site: www.hartfordign.org