Nursing receives $1.3m grant

The elderly, the fastest growing segment of the nation's population, currently experience widespread inadequate health care, decreased ability to pay for health care and an overall poor quality of life. But with the help of a $1.3 million grant, the School of Nursing is working to make life better for America's seniors. The grant, awarded by the John A. Hartford Foundation, designated Penn's Nursing School as one of five "Centers of Geriatric Excellence." Each of the five winners will receive $1.3 million over the next five years to further their programs in education and research focusing on the aging. "The award was based on an overall profile of gerontological excellence in the school," interim Nursing Dean Neville Strumpf said. "We have a large number of staff with expertise in aging and a strong record of scholarly activity." The Nursing School's Gerontological Nurse Practitioner's Program -- the largest and one of the only programs of its kind in the country -- played a significant role in attracting the grant, which was awarded to schools with unusual or innovative education techniques in geriatric nursing. The program trains graduate students to work with elderly patients. And, unlike many other undergraduate nursing programs, Penn's innovative undergraduate curriculum requires that all third-year nursing students take gerontology. The undergraduate nursing course, taught by Professor Sarah Kagan, focuses on community-based fieldwork. In addition to class hours, students spend 12 hours a week working with the elderly at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and in their homes. "We often think of the elderly as frail and confined to hospitals, but only about five percent are in nursing homes," Kagan said. "Most of the elderly are in the community." According to Strumpf, the grant will be used to test innovative models of care for the elderly and develop a Web-based means to publicize these models. The money will also be used to enhance leadership training programs among students who will care for older adults and build on aging research. Past research done by nursing faculty and students about aging and the elderly has involved quality of life issues such as sleep problems, end of life care and palliative care -- caring for those with terminal illness. The Hartford Foundation devotes most of its funding to furthering education and research for the elderly. The foundation advocates that every nurse must be equipped to care for the elderly as life span increases and the baby-boom generation reaches age 65. Penn's nursing professors agree. "We live in a rapidly aging society," Kagan said. "In order to understand the health of our society and the community as a whole, we have to understand the special needs of older adults." "Penn is often looked on to set the standard for undergraduate nursing curricula," she added. This funding "will give us an opportunity to put together a vision that hasn't quite gelled for the rest of the nursing profession." The Nursing School has received several grants in the past from federal and private foundations, including a 1999 honorable mention from the Hartford Foundation and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing for exceptional curriculum in gerontological nursing.