For the past 15 years, the John A. Hartford Foundation has invested over $70 million dollars in geriatric nursing initiatives: faculty development awards and opportunities to support emerging nurse educators and leaders; curricular efforts to embed aging into all levels of nursing education; development of tools and resources to increase the gero competence of the practicing nurse; and the establishment of nine Centers for Geriatric Nursing Excellence. The foundation has made similar investments in geriatric medicine. As a result of these projects, many high quality, evidence-based products and resources have been created to prepare nurses and doctors across health care settings to provide quality care for older Americans.
In 2004, the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation funded creation of POGOe (Portal of Online Geriatric Education), a free public repository of a growing collection of over 400 geriatric educational materials in various formats, including lectures, exercises, virtual patients, case-based discussions, simulations, and links to other resources. While traditionally a physician-focused resource, POGOe's mission is to promote geriatric education through the provision and encouragement of free exchange of teaching and assessment materials that support the fields of geriatrics and gerontology. Therefore, leaders of the Hartford Geriatric Nursing Initiative have recently partnered with the POGOe team at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Vanderbilt University in order to disseminate Hartford’s geriatric nursing programs and products as widely as possible. Incorporation of these nursing resources is a logical next step in promoting POGOe as an interdisciplinary one-stop shop for gero curricular tools and resources.
By integrating products from the Hartford Geriatric Nursing Initiative on POGOe, we are extending the power of Hartford’s $70 million investment in geriatric nursing. Many recipients of Hartford funding have created and developed, either singularly or in groups, novel clinical and educational products to improve the care of older adults. These important products merit optimal visibility and accessibility. Those of us who are, or have been, recipients of Hartford funding also need to be good stewards of that investment by disseminating the products we developed. I endorse the POGOe repository as one of the best methods to disseminate your products to as wide an audience as possible.
A Call for Submissions
Nurses are among the most creative and innovative people in health care and education. We sometimes take our creativity for granted. We generate superb products with applications that extend past our own discipline and have multidisciplinary relevance. As content editor, I would like to encourage all of you to submit products designed to enhance the care of older adults, especially educational products, to POGOe. The clinicians, educators, and students from multiple disciplines who access POGOe appreciate diversity and choices in specific subject matter. I also encourage all of you to examine POGOe for resources that you may find helpful. There are many wonderful products that address learning needs ranging from undergraduate to advanced practice, including introductory videos, quick references on key issues in elder care, and web-based learning modules on a variety of topics.
I look forward to reviewing your products!
Rita Jablonski is an assistant professor of nursing at Penn State University and a content editor for POGO-e.