When my 7-year-old son was young, my husband and I nailed an old yardstick to the kitchen doorframe and periodically marked his height. It’s been a long time since we’ve taken a measure, but the yardstick remains as a record of growth and developmental milestones.
If I had a yardstick to measure the success of the 4-year-old Hartford Gerontological Nursing Leaders (HGNL), November 2103 would have certainly earned a mark. This month, a new special issue of Clinical Nursing Research represents a significant milestone for HGNL.
Clinical Nursing Research Editor Pamela Z. Cacchione, PhD, CRNP, associate professor of geropsychiatric nursing and Ralston House Endowed Term Chair in Gerontological Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing, worked with guest editors from HGNL—Janet Mentes, PhD, RN, and Adriana Perez, PhD, RN—to produce a six-article issue focused on nursing care of older adults.
The issue is titled John A. Hartford Foundation Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity Alumni: Improving Care for Older Adults Across the Healthcare Continuum.
“This was a great opportunity for Clinical Nursing Research to highlight the work of the HGNL alumni,” Cacchione says. “These new nursing scientists are working to improve the clinical care of older adults. The guest editors Adriana Perez and Janet Mentes organized an outstanding set of manuscripts.”
Topics covered in this issue include:
- The impact of health literacy on cervical cancer in Hispanic women
- the overuse of the emergency room by older adults
- heart failure management in long term care
- fall reports in assisted living
- triggers for resident on resident violence in long term care
- hoarding in older adults
HGNL contributors to this special issue are justifiably proud of this milestone.
“I think this special issue is of such great importance because it highlights the breadth of geriatric nursing research in today's health care environment,” says Monika Eckfield, RN, PhD, Assistant Adjunct Professor, Department of Physiological Nursing, School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco. "With more and more Americans entering older adulthood, new issues are cropping up that involve older adults and how they interact with various parts of our health care system. This issue emphasizes how nurses are instrumental to identifying these issues and are providing leadership in working toward innovative solutions. I am particularly delighted to be included in this article because mental health issues in older adults too often get overlooked, under-recognized and under-treated.”
Amy Silva-Smith, PhD, ANP-BC, associate professor and graduate department chair, Beth-El College of Nursing & Health Sciences, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, says: “In appreciation of my Hartford Claire M. Fagin Postdoctoral Research Fellowship 2009-11, I strive to honor that career-building opportunity by seeking answers to important clinical and research questions faced by gerontological nurses and other professionals.”
Other contributors note the impact of being part of the thriving HGNL.
“It has been exciting to be a member of our Hartford nursing alumni. We all share a passion for improving the care of older adults through our research, teaching, practice, and policy work,” says Deborah D'Avolio, PhD, ACNP, ANP, associate professor, Bouve College of Health Sciences, School of Nursing, Northeastern University.
Since 2009, under the leadership of inaugural director Adriana Perez (the first mark on the Hartford Nursing Alumni yardstick), the HGNL (formerly the Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity Initiative or BAGNC alumni) has grown to more than 350 members representing eight committees.
Today, Casey Shillam, PhD, RN, Nursing Academic Program Director and associate professor, Western Washington University, the current Chair of HGNL, can rightfully boast not only about this special issue and an active membership, but the numerous HGNL presentations at national meetings and the HGNL’s contribution and growth to multiple Hartford nursing projects, such as the Geropsychiatric Nursing Collaborative.
During the 2013 annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) in New Orleans this week, the HGNL will host its 2nd Policy/Leadership Committee Town Hall meeting facilitated by Angela Barron McBride, PhD, RN, and featuring an exemplary interprofessional aging–focused team at Ohio State University. The Town Hall will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 20, from 2-5 p.m. in Balcony M/N (M). Updates will be provided by leaders of Hartford’s efforts in nursing, social work, and medicine. All are encouraged to attend.
The HGNL Geropsychiatric Nursing Committee will host a breakfast at GSA on Friday, Nov. 22, from 7:30 to 9:00 a.m. in Salon F at the New Orleans Marriott. And the HGNL will hold its Annual Business Meeting at GSA on Saturday, Nov. 23, from 5-6:30 p.m. During this meeting,Shillam will hand the HGNL leadership reins to Bill Buron, PhD, RNC, assistant professor of nursing at the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing, University of Arkansas.
You can bet I will have my Sharpie and yardstick ready to honor all of these HGNL accomplishments. Thanks HGNL! You are growing up so fast.