- Email: [email protected]
Graham McDougall, Jr., PhD, RN, CS: Academic, Leader, and Researcher
Leaders in Geriatric Nursing
Graham McDougall, Jr., PhD, RN, CS: Academic, Leader, and Researcher Priscilla Ebersole, PhD, RN, FAAN
G
raham McDougall, Jr., PhD, RN, CS, is one of the rare men who has chosen geriatrics as the focus of his practice, research, and teaching. His contributions to the field have been enormous, although he is relatively young. Before entering academia, he was a staff nurse and nursing supervisor in New Orleans hospitals. He became an advanced practice nurse in gerontology and psychiatric and community mental health nursing after graduate school. His advanced clinical roles were divided between inpatient and community-based nursing care. In these roles, he was in private psychotherapy practice, a psychiatric clinical nurse specialist, and a clinical provider of inhome geropsychiatric services. His background has given him a deep understanding of the need for psychogeriatric services and the paucity of those available. His research has focused on the cognitive aspects of aging, with particular emphasis on aging memory, memory impairment, and methods for increasing self-efficacy and memory in older adults. He has concentrated on modifying risk factors, such as the effects of physical, emotional, and control beliefs on subjective and objective memory performance. His projects have been designed for various environments in which older adults live, recreate, and work. McDougall’s extensive honors and awards most recently include the Springer Publishing Award for Applied Gerontological Nursing Research in 1999. This honor recognized his research regarding mnemonic training to improve memory performance and memory 260
self-efficacy in cognitively impaired nursing home residents. Other awards have included a Faculty Scholar Award from the National Institutes of Mental Health, a research paper award from the Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, and the Lucille Joel Scholar and the Germain S. Krysan Scholar awards from the American Nurses Foundation. His numerous professional activities include leadership and research activities with the National Gerontological Nurses Association, membership in the advisory group for the Robert Wood Johnson Teaching Nursing Home Project, and spots on the review boards of several journals. He also serves on GN’s advisory board and as research briefs editor. His greatest talent seems to be his ability to generate research awards. Although Geriatric Nursing is focused on clinical practice, we are fully cognizant of the driving force of research in the development of best practices. McDougall’s most recent research awards have included one from the National Institute of Nursing Research to investigate memory performance in community-residing older adults and one from the National Institute on Aging to study memory improvement and self-efficacy strategies. McDougall has written more than two dozen articles in peer-reviewed journals and has contributed to more than a dozen textbooks. In addition to these prodigious activities, he has presented papers and workshops nationally and internationally—all while maintaining a full university teaching schedule. We are proud to feature Graham McDougall as a geriatric nurse leader and Geriatric Nursing 2000 • Volume 21 • Number 5
expect his example to inspire other men to enter the field of geriatric nursing. We asked McDougall to tell us his motivation for improving the field of geriatric nursing. “Having three sets of grandparents while growing up in New Orleans created an age-friendly environment for me. I spent lots of time with all the grandparents and thought it was only natural to surround myself with older adults. They were an integral component in all family decisions. My professional interest in geriatric nursing began in graduate school at Louisiana State University Medical Center. The National Institute of Mental Health provided fellowships to students specializing in geriatric mental health. This seemed like a worthwhile financial arrangement at the time, but a career in older adults with psychiatric or mental health problems? As a gerontological nurse practitioner and volunteer for the Mental Health Association, I realized that many older adults were in need of psychiatric care. In collaboration with a home health
agency, a program of mental health services reimbursable under Medicare was developed because psychiatric conditions often are hidden with other medical diagnoses. Philosophically, I wish nursing were more genderbalanced and mirrored the population demographics. During my nursing career, I have tried to stay connected to the Assembly of Men in Nursing. Medicine seems to be doing a better job of recruiting women into its profession as evidenced by medical school enrollments. While I believe most of our profession is aware of the shifting demographics in the United States to an aging population, geriatric nursing is less appealing as a specialty because we live in a youth-oriented culture. Perhaps with the current nursing shortage, more men will choose to enter the profession and work with older adults.” Copyright © 2000 by Mosby, Inc. 0197-4572/2000/$8.00 + 0 34/1/110839 doi:10.1067/mgn.2000.110839
Mosby Conferences... A GREAT SOURCE FOR CONTINUING EDUCATION! Earn nursing contact hours and keep up with the latest information and trends in your field by attending an upcoming Mosby conference. Call 888-299-3617 to receive a program brochure for any of the conferences listed at the right as soon as it is available. Visit us online at: www.mosby.com/CET
❖ Faculty Development Institute 2001 January 3-6, 2001 • Las Vegas, Nevada
❖ Women’s Health Care 2001 May 20-23, 2001 • Cincinnati, Ohio
❖ Medical Case Management Convention XIII September 22-25, 2001 • Baltimore, Maryland Dates and locations for the following conferences will be announced:
❖ 14th Annual Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing Conference ❖ Faculty Development Summer Institute ❖ Advances in Pharmacology 2001 ❖ Pediatric Health Care 2001
Geriatric Nursing 2000 • Volume 21 • Number 5
261
Graham McDougall, Jr., PhD, RN, CS: Academic, Leader, and Researcher Priscilla Ebersole, PhD, RN, FAAN
G
raham McDougall, Jr., PhD, RN, CS, is one of the rare men who has chosen geriatrics as the focus of his practice, research, and teaching. His contributions to the field have been enormous, although he is relatively young. Before entering academia, he was a staff nurse and nursing supervisor in New Orleans hospitals. He became an advanced practice nurse in gerontology and psychiatric and community mental health nursing after graduate school. His advanced clinical roles were divided between inpatient and community-based nursing care. In these roles, he was in private psychotherapy practice, a psychiatric clinical nurse specialist, and a clinical provider of inhome geropsychiatric services. His background has given him a deep understanding of the need for psychogeriatric services and the paucity of those available. His research has focused on the cognitive aspects of aging, with particular emphasis on aging memory, memory impairment, and methods for increasing self-efficacy and memory in older adults. He has concentrated on modifying risk factors, such as the effects of physical, emotional, and control beliefs on subjective and objective memory performance. His projects have been designed for various environments in which older adults live, recreate, and work. McDougall’s extensive honors and awards most recently include the Springer Publishing Award for Applied Gerontological Nursing Research in 1999. This honor recognized his research regarding mnemonic training to improve memory performance and memory 260
self-efficacy in cognitively impaired nursing home residents. Other awards have included a Faculty Scholar Award from the National Institutes of Mental Health, a research paper award from the Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, and the Lucille Joel Scholar and the Germain S. Krysan Scholar awards from the American Nurses Foundation. His numerous professional activities include leadership and research activities with the National Gerontological Nurses Association, membership in the advisory group for the Robert Wood Johnson Teaching Nursing Home Project, and spots on the review boards of several journals. He also serves on GN’s advisory board and as research briefs editor. His greatest talent seems to be his ability to generate research awards. Although Geriatric Nursing is focused on clinical practice, we are fully cognizant of the driving force of research in the development of best practices. McDougall’s most recent research awards have included one from the National Institute of Nursing Research to investigate memory performance in community-residing older adults and one from the National Institute on Aging to study memory improvement and self-efficacy strategies. McDougall has written more than two dozen articles in peer-reviewed journals and has contributed to more than a dozen textbooks. In addition to these prodigious activities, he has presented papers and workshops nationally and internationally—all while maintaining a full university teaching schedule. We are proud to feature Graham McDougall as a geriatric nurse leader and Geriatric Nursing 2000 • Volume 21 • Number 5
expect his example to inspire other men to enter the field of geriatric nursing. We asked McDougall to tell us his motivation for improving the field of geriatric nursing. “Having three sets of grandparents while growing up in New Orleans created an age-friendly environment for me. I spent lots of time with all the grandparents and thought it was only natural to surround myself with older adults. They were an integral component in all family decisions. My professional interest in geriatric nursing began in graduate school at Louisiana State University Medical Center. The National Institute of Mental Health provided fellowships to students specializing in geriatric mental health. This seemed like a worthwhile financial arrangement at the time, but a career in older adults with psychiatric or mental health problems? As a gerontological nurse practitioner and volunteer for the Mental Health Association, I realized that many older adults were in need of psychiatric care. In collaboration with a home health
agency, a program of mental health services reimbursable under Medicare was developed because psychiatric conditions often are hidden with other medical diagnoses. Philosophically, I wish nursing were more genderbalanced and mirrored the population demographics. During my nursing career, I have tried to stay connected to the Assembly of Men in Nursing. Medicine seems to be doing a better job of recruiting women into its profession as evidenced by medical school enrollments. While I believe most of our profession is aware of the shifting demographics in the United States to an aging population, geriatric nursing is less appealing as a specialty because we live in a youth-oriented culture. Perhaps with the current nursing shortage, more men will choose to enter the profession and work with older adults.” Copyright © 2000 by Mosby, Inc. 0197-4572/2000/$8.00 + 0 34/1/110839 doi:10.1067/mgn.2000.110839
Mosby Conferences... A GREAT SOURCE FOR CONTINUING EDUCATION! Earn nursing contact hours and keep up with the latest information and trends in your field by attending an upcoming Mosby conference. Call 888-299-3617 to receive a program brochure for any of the conferences listed at the right as soon as it is available. Visit us online at: www.mosby.com/CET
❖ Faculty Development Institute 2001 January 3-6, 2001 • Las Vegas, Nevada
❖ Women’s Health Care 2001 May 20-23, 2001 • Cincinnati, Ohio
❖ Medical Case Management Convention XIII September 22-25, 2001 • Baltimore, Maryland Dates and locations for the following conferences will be announced:
❖ 14th Annual Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing Conference ❖ Faculty Development Summer Institute ❖ Advances in Pharmacology 2001 ❖ Pediatric Health Care 2001
Geriatric Nursing 2000 • Volume 21 • Number 5
261