Describing gerontological nursing: an academic exercise or prerequisite for progress?

Abstract

Gerontological practice requires an accessible consensus view and description to support its development. Practising nurses developed such a view and its utility has been seen in the development of best practice statements. Relevance to clinical practice. The description and principles of gerontological nursing can be used to guide nursing practice, practice development and research.

Working in a storied way—Narrative‐based approaches to person‐centred care and practice development in older adult residential care settings

“…Theories often fail to take account of the perceptions of older adults regarding their expectations of care. Older adults in residential care may not be acutely ill, but they may need support with the ageing process (Kelly, Tolson, Schofield, & Booth, ). They may need to have their values and beliefs recognised when planning care (McCormack & McCance, ) and to have their life stories recognised as a basis of understanding care needs (McKeown, Clarke, & Repper, ).…”

Using action research to construct national evidence‐based nursing care guidance for gerontological nursing

“…The process of applying the principles of gerontological nursing to the evidence was challenging and protracted. This was recognized to be partly attributable to the fact that this was the first attempt to apply the principles (Kelly et al. 2005a) and partly because, at this point, the exact format of the BPS itself was unclear.…”

“…To date three CoPs involving over 100 nurses from the NHS and independent sector care homes have participated. Important longitudinal project developments include the explication of an agreed value base for gerontological nursing (Kelly et al. 2005a), in addition to establishing and evaluating the methodology to be used in the construction of BPS, the subject of this paper.…”

Standing secure amidst a falling world? Practitioner understandings of old age in responses to a case vignette

“…Successive studies have reported a reluctance to work with older people amongst trainees from different professional groups, for example medical students (McAlpine et al, 1995) social workers (Jack & Mosley, 1997) and clinical psychologists (Lee, Volans & Gregory, 2003). In nursing, despite recognition that the care of older adults is now a distinct specialism (Joy, Carter & Smith, 2000), nurses working with older people continue to report that their work is seen as low-status and requiring little specialist knowledge or skills (Kelly et al, 2005). Amongst all groups, specializing in old age may still be seen as a fate for the unambitious or the untalented.…”