Program Structure

Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity (BAGNC) is a program of the American Academy of Nursing. BAGNC has five components related to its overall goals. These are:

Component 1: Scholarships and Fellowships to support the development of a cadre of well-prepared and committed academic geriatric nurses. This component addresses the shortage of faculty prepared in geriatric nursing and the shortage of nurses prepared in business to participate in top management positions within health care institutions.

Component 2: Programs to development of leadership skills in geriatric nurses. A long-term purpose of Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity is to create thoughtful and sustainable change in schools of nursing and health care systems in the service of elders in the United States. Leadership development is, therefore, critical to the success of the initiative.

Component 3: Programs to build interdisciplinary research skills among geriatric nurse researchers. There has long been recognition in gerontology that the only way to meaningfully understand aging and improve health care for elders is through interdisciplinary collaboration and research. Increasingly, there is recognition that the only way to make progress in addressing the nation's health problems is to move beyond the confines of a single discipline and explore new models for team science.

Component 4: Hartford Centers of Excellence in Geriatric Nursing. The John A. Hartford Foundation funded five Hartford Centers of Geriatric Nursing Excellence in January 2001. The centers have common goals but unique program foci, strategies, and leadership. They are located in strategic geographic hubs where additional regional outreach and development can lead to improvements in curriculum and faculty development in area schools of nursing, develop community based programs which improve standards of care, and influence policy at the local, state and national level when working as a whole. In 2008 four new Centers were funded.

Component 5: Collaborative efforts to improve care for older person nationally. The strengths of each Center provide an opportunity for synergy in activities involving collaboration across two or more Centers of Geriatric Nursing Excellence. Initially, the Coordinating Center facilitated communication among the various components of the Hartford Geriatric Nursing Initiative. In the renewal we will take the next step by stimulating and supporting cross-center initiatives to address critical issues in the field.