- Email: [email protected]
A christmas gift for posterity
EDITORIAL
A Christmas Gift for Posterity On December 3, 1987, the Community College-Nursing Home Partnership will hold its first national conference. The Partnership, funded by a grant from the W. IC Kellogg Foundation, is aimed at preparing associate degree nurses for long-term and geriatric nursing care. This new venture could well change the thrust of long-term care for the chronically ill and the aged. Recognized as a part of a continuum, long-term care has never been fully appreciated as a specialty that requires knowledge and skills at least equal to, if not greater than, those required for acute and critical care. The time required by patients for personal care, psychosocial needs, and treatment and rehabilitation has mandated a larger ratio of patients to carers. The problem has been resolved in most instances by separating out the personal care and assigning it to minimally prepared personnel while portioning out medications, treatments, psychosocial support, overall care, general assessment, and rehabilitation measures to variously prepared persons in all disciplines. No real attention has been paid to the interdependence or interrelationships of patients' needs and activities except through periodic interdisciplinary staffmeetings which, while a positive step, only scratch the surface. Things like multidisciplinary charting and care plans rarely become interdisciplinary. At present in most long-term-care facilities nurses from any formal RN program of preparation are scarce and perform supervisory, administrative, or consultative roles. They depend on on-thejob trained aides to carry out the daily care necessary to the quality of life and clinical stability of the patients. As I see it, the functioning of the AD nurse in a staffrole will provide an individual with the preparation to incorporate the many facets of patient care into a daily care regimen without the fractionalization and oversight that now exist. The presence of the ADN as the staff nurse will encourage and challenge the leadership and consultative roles of the baccalaureate nurses and the master's-prepared clinical specialists. Precious time can be used to compare and'evaluate nursing observations and forward plans for treatment and care instead of being wasted in explaining basics. The time can be used to explore and test out new and different approaches with patients and families as active participants in the process. My belief is that this program will not only prepare the ADN for chronic long-term care, but it could also provide the opportunity for those already in the work setting to expand their skills and broaden their knowledge by offering them courses to earn an AD on a work-study basis. Inherent in this program is the potential for further education, diversity of focus, and growth of scope and span of responsibility for its graduates, providing a true career ladder and elements to underline the dynamism of nursing. What a great Christmas present this could be--not only to the field of long-term care but to the quality of nursing care for all persons for many years to come.
Geriatric
Nua'sin~_
NcJvemh~r
lr'~.~-.-----
t ¢m.7 _,'~,.~
A Christmas Gift for Posterity On December 3, 1987, the Community College-Nursing Home Partnership will hold its first national conference. The Partnership, funded by a grant from the W. IC Kellogg Foundation, is aimed at preparing associate degree nurses for long-term and geriatric nursing care. This new venture could well change the thrust of long-term care for the chronically ill and the aged. Recognized as a part of a continuum, long-term care has never been fully appreciated as a specialty that requires knowledge and skills at least equal to, if not greater than, those required for acute and critical care. The time required by patients for personal care, psychosocial needs, and treatment and rehabilitation has mandated a larger ratio of patients to carers. The problem has been resolved in most instances by separating out the personal care and assigning it to minimally prepared personnel while portioning out medications, treatments, psychosocial support, overall care, general assessment, and rehabilitation measures to variously prepared persons in all disciplines. No real attention has been paid to the interdependence or interrelationships of patients' needs and activities except through periodic interdisciplinary staffmeetings which, while a positive step, only scratch the surface. Things like multidisciplinary charting and care plans rarely become interdisciplinary. At present in most long-term-care facilities nurses from any formal RN program of preparation are scarce and perform supervisory, administrative, or consultative roles. They depend on on-thejob trained aides to carry out the daily care necessary to the quality of life and clinical stability of the patients. As I see it, the functioning of the AD nurse in a staffrole will provide an individual with the preparation to incorporate the many facets of patient care into a daily care regimen without the fractionalization and oversight that now exist. The presence of the ADN as the staff nurse will encourage and challenge the leadership and consultative roles of the baccalaureate nurses and the master's-prepared clinical specialists. Precious time can be used to compare and'evaluate nursing observations and forward plans for treatment and care instead of being wasted in explaining basics. The time can be used to explore and test out new and different approaches with patients and families as active participants in the process. My belief is that this program will not only prepare the ADN for chronic long-term care, but it could also provide the opportunity for those already in the work setting to expand their skills and broaden their knowledge by offering them courses to earn an AD on a work-study basis. Inherent in this program is the potential for further education, diversity of focus, and growth of scope and span of responsibility for its graduates, providing a true career ladder and elements to underline the dynamism of nursing. What a great Christmas present this could be--not only to the field of long-term care but to the quality of nursing care for all persons for many years to come.
Geriatric
Nua'sin~_
NcJvemh~r
lr'~.~-.-----
t ¢m.7 _,'~,.~