10 Steps to Sustain Infusion of Gerontology Across the Social Work Curriculum

Solutions to the conundrum: Implementing adult-gerontology graduate programs with current resources

“…The coalition served primarily to assess geriatric nursing community needs, and to provide a mechanism for nurses to participate in continuing education. Holody and Kolb [13] identified that the participation of the stakeholders resulted in significant generation of ideas and differing perspectives, which served to reinforce faculty commitment to the project.…”

“…The following sections highlight strategies and suggestions for collaborative efforts and projects designed not only for programs to address curricular and regulatory guidelines, but also as mechanisms to enhance gerontology learning opportunities for APRN preceptors, nursing staff, and other agency personnel. While the process of curricular redesign or enhancement can be quite intense and laborious, Holody and Kolb [13] described strong faculty commitment to effective enrichment of existing curricula, rather than changing the entire curriculum. Gerontology content can be enhanced through infusion of new material and resources in fresh and unexpected ways [14][15][16][17] .…”

“…Ansari and Phillips [17] noted that a successful collaboration enables members to collectively meet needs and goals, create longevity and gain recognition. Holody and Kolb [13] posited that the participation of stakeholders from beyond academia created new ideas and perspectives. Community partners can identify resources which they may be able to make available to the nursing program, and the program in turn, may be able to identify available resources for the community.…”

“…Essential links to the greater community of interest can be a critically important component to establish and effectively promote adult/gerontology interprofessional engagement. Faculty can participate in the identification of important stakeholders, such as local health care agencies, nursing or medical organizations, or long term care facilities, which will help to ensure a broad range of diverse community participants, and to strengthen faculty investiture in the process [13] . Effective interprofessional coalitions need to establish "a vital sense of ownership" (p. 353) for all involved parties [17] .…”

“…Vignettes can be added to the previously discussed website or library materials to increase available materials, or to focus on a specific situation related to care of the older adult. Vignettes can be particularly useful for practice faculty whose teaching is informed by their own clinical experiences [13] .…”