Care for a Lifetime

A new grant gives the School of Nursing the tools needed to educate a new generation of geriatric nurses—and care for a rapidly aging population.

By Erin Peterson

A nurse in any setting must have a sharp mind and a big heart. A geriatric nurse must also develop a detective’s ability to piece together clues to understand a larger puzzle. She or he must be able to tease out symptoms that might signal depression, or earn the trust of a sheepish patient who’s embarrassed to talk about incontinence.

That skill set comes not only from experience in the field, but also from a strong curriculum taught by excellent faculty members. With help from a $1 million grant from the John A. Hartford Foundation (and more than $500,000 in matching funds), the School of Nursing will open the Minnesota Hartford Center for Geriatric Nursing Excellence. The center will provide training to faculty who teach geriatric nursing at schools in four states and at tribal colleges across the nation.

Jean Wyman, director of the center, believes these activities are critical to prepare for the future. “There’s a tremendous shortage of nurse faculty, and there are even fewer faculty with a background in geriatric nursing,” she says. “With the huge aging population that’s already here—and expected to be coming—we have to do a better job of preparing future nurses to care for older adults.”

Among the program’s initiatives are a summer development program, including a year-long mentorship, for faculty members in nursing programs in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North and South Dakota, and six tribal colleges.A second major initiative furthers the work of the Upper Midwest Geriatric Nursing Education Alliance. The group, led by the University of Minnesota, includes more than 25 nursing schools in the upper Midwest. Its goals include encouraging dialogue about nursing education issues and strengthening gerontological nursing curricula through annual meetings and Web seminars.

The work adds to an already impressive array of work on gerontological nursing being done at the University, including Web-based courses, interdisciplinary geriatric education and research, and research and practice done through a network of community partners. The five-year grant serves as a launching pad for the center; Wyman expects that to sustain the center’s work and develop new initiatives well beyond the five-year timeline.

Though the center was designed to help other schools strengthen their nursing programs through faculty development, the University also benefits. The University’s gerontological nursing program has long been one of the region’s strongest, but the Hartford grant—one of just nine in the country—will provide national visibility to the work being done at the school. Christine Mueller, co-director of the Hartford program, says the initiative will help attract top faculty to the University.

Mueller says the grant offers an opportunity to make an impact well beyond campus. “Through the Hartford initiative, the University’s School of Nursing will be able to ensure that our curriculum prepares nursing students to be competent and caring for older adults, and we’ll have an impact on all schools of nursing in four states and tribal colleges,” says Mueller. That impact will extend to the thousands of elderly men and women who benefit through longer, healthier, and happier lives.