Gerontological Nursing

Want to improve care for older adults in your care settings?

Join the Gerontological Nursing Council!

Gerontological nurses are located all over the state and we work in a variety of clinical settings including long term care facilities, clinics, home health care, education, and administration. Members of the Gerontological Nursing Council are nurses leading change to prevent falls and improve quality of care and life for older adults and their families.

The mission of our Council is to provide communication and resources for nurses across NC to build knowledge related to best practice in the care of older adults.

Our vision is to improve quality of care delivered to older North Carolinians.

The Gerontological Council Goals:
1. Increase and engage members focused in care of older adults
2. Improve care delivery of older adults in NC—nurses leading change
3. Strengthen collaboration with other gerontological and advocacy organizations

We want to see you at our meetings! Send us an email. Email NCNA if you would like to be added to our listserv.

We also look forward to seeing you at the NCNA Annual Convention! Stay up to date with this link to the NCNA Special Events page.

Gero Council Online Discussion Group
NCNA is excited to announce that we are now able to offer online discussion groups (also known as listservs) as a benefit for our members. These NCNA discussion groups are an opportunity to increase communication and provide relevant information to members of the association. Please read our user policy. The listserv and discussion group software is designed to connect you with your NCNA affiliated Gerontological Nursing Council group and will provide an opportunity to receive timely information from your leadership. We hope that you will be able to enjoy this member benefit and get a lot of useful information off of it.

Council on Gerontological Nursing Discussion Group
*You must be a NCNA member to start a discussion.

NCNA Discussion Group User Policy

 

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Executive Committee Members

The Council’s Executive Committee term ends October 2013, and we will need new Gerontological Nursing Council leadership to come forward.  If you are interested in serving in a leadership position on the Council, October 2013, please let Ashley Leak (anleak@email.unc.edu) or Kathy Ennen (kennen@ec.rr.com) know by August 15, 2013. Please contact us if you are interested in learning more about the role and responsibilities as a Council leader.

Current Officers:

Chair, Ashley Leak, PhD, RN-BC, OCN is a Cancer Care Quality Post Doctoral Fellow at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health in the Department of Health Policy and Management. Her work focuses on assisting older adults with cancer manage their symptoms to reduce the risk of hospitalizations. She is certified in gerontology and oncology.

Vice Chair, Kathy Ennen, PhD, RN-BC, CNE is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington where she teaches Gerontological Nursing and Health Policy to undergraduate, RN-BS, and graduate students. Her research is focused on stroke prevention in women using walking to control hypertension, weight, and fatigue. She is a Certified Nurse Educator.

Secretary, Melissa Aselage, PhD, RN-BC, FNP-BC is currently an Assistant Professor at Duke University School of Nursing and co-teaches Care of Older Adults and Their Families. Her research interest is alleviating mealtime difficulties for older persons with dementia. She is certified in gerontological nursing and as a Family Nurse Practitioner.

Member at Large, Meg Smith, RN, BSN, CCM is a Certified Geriatric Care Manager who started her own business, Golden Eldercare Management, PC, in 2002. Her business is certified by the NC Board of Nursing as a Professional Corporation. As a Care Manager, she provides comprehensive assessments and care coordination for clients who live at home or in facilities. She has eight other part-time RNs on staff.

Member at Large, Yvette West, RN, MSN, CNS is the past Gerontological Nursing Council Chair. She is the Director of the Duke Nurses Improving Care of Healthcare System Elders (NICHE) Program at Duke University Health System and the Director of Advanced Practice, Cardiology & Neurology Services in the Department of Advanced Clinical Practice at Duke.

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FALLS

Falls are the leading cause of fatal injuries and the second leading cause of nonfatal injuries for people over 65. The North Carolina Falls Prevention Coalition brings together researchers, planners, health care providers, housing specialists, aging services providers, and many others to work together to reduce the number of falls and fall-related injuries for North Carolinians. Learn more about work to prevent falls by increasing awareness, providing education and training, providing tools and resources, and fostering linkages between programs and organizations working to reduce falls. For additional information about the North Carolina Falls Prevention Coalition, go to this link:
https://sites.google.com/site/ncfallsprevention/.

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Gerontology Nursing Information and Online Resources

EDUCATION
Gerontological nurses use knowledge, skill, resources, and creativity to facilitate quality of care and life for older adults. Lifelong learning by nurses is a must in order to grow personally and professionally to meet the ever-changing needs of the people they serve.

PRACTICE AND SERVICE
Gerontological nurses have a special combination of clinical expertise and a holistic approach to taking care of older people as people and not simply patients. These nurses look at where the person came from and where they are going relative to their dynamic health status. From monitoring the cardiac functions of an older person running in a marathon to easing pain and providing comfort during the dying process at the end of life, gerontological nurses embrace both caring and curing.

ADVOCACY
As individuals and as part of the professional organization, gerontological nurses advocate on behalf of older persons. Gerontological nurses confront ethical issues every day in caring for these people. As direct providers of care, these nurses are in a pivotal position to translate the needs of older persons from diverse care settings to the General Assembly and state agencies, where policies that impact on the elderly are written and legislated.

RESEARCH/QUALITY IMPROVEMENT
Through continuing education, peer networking, and professional standards, state-of- the-art information is communicated to nurses throughout the state. Position papers supporting gerontological nursing in the curriculum in schools of nursing have advanced the level of sensitivity and skill provided by nurses. Gerontological nurses also contribute to the literature through their own research and publications.

Online Resources

http://consultgerirn.org/ Evidenced based geriatric clinical nursing website

http://www.pogoe.org/ Portal of geriatric online education

http://nicheprogram.org/ Nurses Improving Care of Healthsystem Elders

http://www.jhartfound.org/ John A. Hartford Foundation, Dedicated to Improving Care of Older Americans

http://www.cdc.gov/aging/ Centers for Disease Control, Health Aging Initiatives

For faculty: http://www.aacn.nche.edu/faculty/faculty-link/about 

Webinars: American Association of College of Nursing (AACN) FREE Webinars