Required clinical course in gerontology: the key to providing competent nurse caregivers for the elderly

Infusing gerontological nursing content into advanced practice nursing education

The inclusion of gerontology content in the nursing curriculum is paramount as our population of older adults grows. As one of 10 recipients of the John A. Hartford Foundation/AACN awards for Enhancing Gerontological and Geriatric Nursing Education for Advanced Practice Nursing Programs, we successfully integrated gerontological/ geriatric content throughout core courses for all concentrations taught at the master's level. The Nurse Practitioner and Clinical Nurse Specialist Competencies for Older Adult Care were used as a guide to integrate gerontological nursing content across the core courses. We present examples of content, strategies, and evaluation methods that demonstrate infusion of gerontology in a nursing theory course, research course, and healthcare law and policy course. Twenty-two of the competencies are addressed in these core courses and provide a foundation for further development in the support and specialty courses for the nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist, nursing administrator, nurse educator, and nurse anesthetist. We also present helpful Web-based resources for older adult care.