Had you asked me in 1995 if an intervention by a foundation could enhance the visibility and value of academic geriatric nursing, I would have said no. However, the Hartford Foundation’s investment in Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity (BAGNC) has done just that.
As any regular reader of this blog knows, over 37 million Americans are age 65 and older—a number that will double by the year 2030. The health care workforce, including nursing—its largest component—is inadequate both in preparation and numbers to meet the needs of older persons now. One factor limiting the ability of nursing schools to prepare gero-competent nurses has been the small number of nursing faculty expert in this area.
Here’s where the Hartford Foundation made a bold and innovative move that is changing the field’s outlook for the future. In 1999, Claire M. Fagin worked with the Hartford Foundation to create a program that would effectively address the critical shortage of geriatric nursing faculty to teach the practicing nurses of tomorrow. Ada Sue Hinshaw, then President of the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Nursing (AAN), shepherded the proposed program through the AAN Board's approval process. In 2000 AAN launched the Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity Program (BAGNC).
BAGNC enhances nursing’s ability to address the health care needs of the older population now and in the future by increasing the number of well-prepared geriatric nursing faculty, developing leadership skills among geriatric nurses, and facilitating collaboration among the 10 Centers of Geriatric Nursing Excellence to maximize their impact nationally. A brief history of BAGNC can be found at http://www.geriatricnursing.org/anniversary/timeline.asp. In this blog, I focus primarily on the faculty development aspect of BAGNC, which encompasses predoctoral scholarships (scholars) and Claire M. Fagin Fellowships (fellows).
Scholars and Fellows Are Transforming the Field
From my perspective, BAGNC’s most important outcome is its vibrant, motivated, and well-prepared national network of academic geriatric nurse colleagues. Although the first cohort of BAGNC scholars and fellows entered the program only a decade ago, alumni are already making a positive impact. They are strengthening the science underpinning care for elders, teaching the next generation of nurses, and leading efforts to improve care for older adults.
The most recent set of evaluation data show BAGNC alumni to be highly productive in research and scholarship. The average BAGNC alum has published six peer-reviewed articles and obtained nearly $200,000 in research grants related to the care of older adults. Alumni scholarship addresses a wide range of timely elder care topics (see http://www.geriatricnursing.org/scholars-fellows), such as: making life-sustaining treatment decisions, evaluating nursing home management characteristics and outcomes for elders, improving cognition and function through exercise, and assessing and managing pain in elders. The high quality of research by BAGNC alumni has also been acknowledged by awards. For example, Casey Mayo Shillam (Scholar, 2004) and Elena Siegel (Fellow, 2007) received Western Institute of Nursing young gerontological nursing researcher awards in 2009 and 2008, respectively, and Barb Rakel (Fellow, 2003) received the Midwest Nursing Research Society Harriet Werley New Investigator Award in 2008.
BAGNC scholars, fellows, and alumni are actively involved in teaching geriatric nursing. As of April 2010, they had taught geriatric nursing content to nearly 33,000 undergraduate and graduate students. They also influence geriatric nursing nationally by contributing to the Geriatric Nursing Education Consortium, a faculty development program within the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. BAGNC alumni wrote or contributed to 6 of the 11 GNEC background papers underpinning the GNEC modules, and Melissa Aselage, a current BAGNC Scholar, worked with AACN to create podcasts for each.
BAGNC alumni are leaders in collaborative regional efforts to strengthen geriatric nursing within nursing schools across the country. Several regional efforts have websites: West and South.
In November 2009, BAGNC alumni gathered at the Gerontological Society of America and took the initiative to become an organized group. Since that time, the BAGNC alumni organization has organized symposia at GSA, negotiated to do a special issue of Research in Gerontological Nursing, and created an alumni website to facilitate communication.
BAGNC has created an expanding pool of academic geriatric nurse leaders who are better equipped than previous cohorts to make a difference in the care of elders. They have technological tools, more sophisticated research methods, a sturdier scientific base, and the enthusiasm that comes from being part of a national movement. From my vantage point, the Hartford Foundation’s investment in academic geriatric nursing has indeed revolutionized the field and energized the future of geriatric nursing.
As exciting as this progress is, there remains an enormous gap between the need for gero-competent nurses and their availability to elders in this country. Every elder deserves high quality, gero-competent care—nursing, education, the health system, and the government must expand efforts to make this a reality.
Patricia Archbold, DNSc, RN, FAAN, is director of the BAGNC program.