Project Background & Goals

The percentage of elderly in the U.S. is rising, and with it the demand for primary health care for the aging population. Responding to these trends, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) and the John A. Hartford Foundation Institute for Geriatric Nursing developed, in July of 2000, core competencies for baccalaureate nursing education and curricular guidelines for geriatric nursing care.

The Concepts in Geriatric Care project, the result of a grant from AACN and the Hartford Foundation, was developed by Western University of Health Science's College of Graduate Nursing as a collaborative effort to expand the knowledge and experience of advanced practice nurses in the care of older clients. The primary goals of the project are to:

  1. Develop a self-administered Geriatric Competency Inventory for generalist Family Nurse Practitioners (FNPs) that is derived from AACN-recommended BSN geriatric competencies.

  2. Based on their performance on the Inventory, provide FNPs with on-line resources for instructional remediation in geriatric care concepts at the baccalaureate level.

  3. Offer a series of self-administered, online modules that provide instruction in geriatric care concepts for FNPs in higher education and clinical practice settings.

Project Team members include:

Elizabeth Towner, PhD, FNP
Project Director and Professor
College of Graduate Nursing
Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA

Carol Huston, MSN, DPA
Module Development Consultant and Professor,
School of Nursing, California State University, Chico,
and College of Graduate Nursing,
Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA

Margaret Wallhagen, PhD, RN, CS
Gerontological NP Consultant
and Associate Professor
Department of Physiological Nursing
University of California, San Francisco

Robin Miller, RN, MSN, CNS

J. Anne O'Neil, PhD, RN
Consultant: Ethical Practice and Education
Albuquerque, NM

Carol Oliver, MSN, FNP
Assistant Professor,
College of Graduate Nursing
Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA

Karen Hanford, MSN, FNP, EdD(c)
Dean
College of Graduate Nursing
Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA

Sarah Douville, MBA
Grant Coordinator and Assistant Program Director
College of Graduate Nursing
Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA

Jerry Kellogg, MA
Instructional Designer and Manager of Online Learning
Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA

Steve Hill
Site Design and Programming
Fine Line Communications, Red Bluff, CA

Marty Hill
Site Design and Programming
Fine Line Communications, Red Bluff, CA

We wish to acknowledge assistance from Kathy Marquis, JD, FNP, Anita Catlin, PhD, and Brian Foxworth, MA.