University of Minnesota School of Nursing
 "Bulding Academic Geriatric Nursing"

 Jean Wyman, RN, FAAN
The John A. Hartford Foundation Award for Building Academic Geriatric Nursing funds two initiatives administered by the Center for Nursing Research on Elders (School of Nursing, University of Minnesota) during the period January 1, 2002 – December 31, 2004.

The Geriatric Clinical Scholars Partnership (GCSP) is a program that will engage students, faculty and clinicians within the community in working together to improve gerontological patient care through research.  This program creates a Partnership Team that links an advanced practice nurse (APN) from a clinical setting, an undergraduate student, a graduate student (masters or doctoral) and a CNRE faculty member to examine a clinical or organizational problem that related to the faculty member’s research. Two Partnership Teams will be supported during each year of funding.  The teams will each develop, implement, and evaluate an innovative evidence-based intervention.  The primary outcome for the GCSP is the improvement in nursing care of elders resulting from practice changes in the clinical setting based on research.  These practice changes could involve both clinical (e.g. evidenced-based guidelines) and organizational (e.g. staffing innovation) strategies.  Additional expected outcomes include the extension of research ideas and an increase in student enrollment in gerontological nursing programs.

  The Gerontological Nursing Research Summit (GNRS) will bring nationally and internationally recognized nurse scholars, funding agency project officers, doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows together for a two day meeting on a key geriatric topic – urinary and fecal incontinence.  Objectives are to develop a national nursing agenda on the topic, identify a minimum data set for future research proposals that includes nurse sensitive outcome measures, and stimulate research and research collaboration in the area.  Invited presentations will be followed by facilitated discussions.  Papers from the Summit will be published in a nursing research journal as a supplement.