Hartford Institute Programs and Projects

The NYU College of Nursing, building on the branding of the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing (the Hartford Institute) as the leading national site for evidence-based geriatric nursing resources, which has resulted from its core funding from The John A. Hartford Foundation, will continue the Hartford Institute as the umbrella structure for the College’s geriatric initiatives. 

Since its inception in 1992, the mission of the Hartford Institute has been to shape the quality of nursing care to older adults by assuring geriatric competency of America’s nurses.   The Hartford Institute is recognized as unique in academic nursing in its focus on disseminating best practices to nursing students, faculty, practicing nurses, and policy makers. Mathy Mezey, EdD, RN, FAAN directs the Hartford Institute, along with Co-Directors Dean Fulmer and Elizabeth Capezuti, PhD, APRN, FAAN, who is nationally recognized for her work on physical restraints in nursing homes. Current funded initiatives that fall under the Hartford Institute are listed below.

 

Geriatric Competence of Specialty Nurses (REASN Project) (Funder, Atlantic Philanthropies (USA) Inc.): In this renewal, while the Hartford Institute continues to work with all 55 specialty nursing associations, it has identified 13 hospital-based associations with which to build in-depth collaborative relationships. The outcomes from these collaborations will be new advanced geriatric training resources and sustainable infrastructures for geriatric initiatives at these 13 associations. In this renewal, through intensive work with 40 specialty nursing association Web Fellows, the Hartford Institute outcomes will be broad access by specialty association members and specialty nurses generally to geriatric best practices. In this renewal, the Hartford Institute activities to expand the highly successful project web site as a portal, under the new name, www.ConsultGeriRN.org, will yield substantially enhanced access of specialty nurses to new and expanded geriatric web-based geriatric education offerings created by specialty associations and the Hartford Institute. And, at the request of the 55 specialty nursing associations involved in Phase I, this renewal will develop and seek to obtain endorsement from 55 specialty associations for a global vision statement about care of older adults in the hospital setting, the outcome of which will be a unified and public commitment by specialty associations to geriatric care.

Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing Clinical Resources Expansion (Funder: The John A. Hartford Foundation): This project enhances and expands the evidence-based clinical resource materials of the Hartford Institute, e.g. the Try This and How to Try This assessment series, the Clinical Practice Protocols, and other resources. The Hartford Institute Web Site has been transformed into a Portal that captures and disseminates state of the art, evidence-based clinical resources and provides opportunities for enhancing nurse geriatric competence. Thus, the Hartford Institute clinical resources are positioned to maximize dissemination to existing audiences, tailor dissemination to new and emerging audiences, and assure sustainability of Hartford Institute resources and products through enhanced revenue streams and strategic alliances.

Nurses Improving Care to Health System Elders (NICHE) (Funder: Atlantic Philanthropies): Started in 1992, NICHE has evolved into a national geriatric nursing program comprising 270 active sites in 39 states as well as parts of Canada and The Netherlands. The goal of NICHE is to achieve systematic nursing change that will benefit hospitalized older patients. The vision of NICHE is for all patients 65 and over to be given sensitive and exemplary care. The mission of NICHE is to import principles and tools to stimulate a change in the culture of healthcare facilities to achieve patient-centered care for older adults. NICHE does not prescribe how institutions should modify geriatric care; rather, it provides the materials and services necessary to stimulate and support the planning and implementation process. The focus of NICHE is on geriatric-specific staff development approaches, clinical protocols, and organizational tools that are dominantly under the control of nursing practice; in other words, areas where nursing interventions have a substantive and positive impact on patient care.

RAND/Hartford Foundation grant (Funder: The John A. Hartford Foundation): The Building Interdisciplinary Geriatric Health Care Research Centers Initiative is developing a new center focused on improving the health of older adults through innovative, interdisciplinary research. This research center capitalizes on existing strengths in geriatric research and training at NYU, and brings together extensive gerontological expertise from faculty in the College of Nursing, and NYU’s School of Medicine, College of Dentistry, School of Social Work, and Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Its mission is to develop and study innovative clinical and health-services interventions in geriatrics, and to provide interdisciplinary research and training opportunities for new and established investigators.

How to Try This (Funder: The John A. Hartford Foundation): In collaboration with the American Journal of Nursing, this project translates and disseminates the highly accessible Hartford Institute Try This tool box of 30 geriatric assessment tools into web-based, demonstration videos for use by nursing faculty, students and graduates. Accompanying these videos is a complementary series of continuing-education articles from the AJN that provide case studies and supporting information about the use of each assessment tool and is available on line to read or download.

The Hartford Institute partnership with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) to support geriatrics in baccalaureate and advanced practice nursing education: Through sub-contracts from AACN (with funding from The John A. Hartford Foundation), the Hartford Institute supports two AACN initiatives. “Enhancing Geriatric Nursing Education for Baccalaureate Nursing Programs,” the GNEC Program, has created new geriatric materials and resources for incorporation in upper division baccalaureate nursing education programs, and disseminates these materials through six train- the- trainer workshops nationwide. The “Advanced Practice Registered Nursing Initiative Transitioning to Adult-Gerontology APRN Education: Ensuring the APRN Workforce is Prepared to Care for Older Adults,” seeks to create competencies in care of older adults for advanced practice nursing education programs preparing adult nurse practitioners. The Hartford Institute and AACN also jointly sponsor awards and showcase schools demonstrating excellence in geriatric nursing education. 

Geriatric Nursing Summer Scholars and Fellows Program: Through a subcontract from American Academy of Nursing (AAN) (with funding from The John A Hartford Foundation), the Hartford Institute provides doctorally-prepared nurses with an in-depth mentoring experience with nationally recognized gerontologic nurses in a week-long, intensive, annual summer research seminar.

The Hartford Institute Coalition of Geriatric Nursing Organizations: The Hartford Institute supports the ongoing Coalition that represents 6 nursing organizations and over 20,000 nurses (American Academy of Nursing Expert Panel on Aging, American Association of Nurse Assessment Coordinators, the Hartford Institute, the National Association of Directors of Nursing Administration in Long Term Care, the National Conference of Gerontological Nurse Practitioners, an the National Gerontological Nursing Association). Initially organized in 2001, the Coalition seeks to positively affect the quality of long term care by convening consensus conferences, offering testimony at hearings, preparing papers for publications and presentations at national meetings. 

Consortium of New York Geriatric Education Centers (CNYGECs) (Funder: DHHS, Health Resource Service Administration (HRSA), Bureau of Health Professions): The Consortium of New York Geriatric Education Centers (CNYGECs) brings together the combined resources of New York University, Columbia University, Mt. Sinai/NYU Medical Center, and the Brookdale Center, and represents over 75 faculty and hundreds of clinical affiliates. The mission of the CNYGECs is to improve and expand geriatric health care particularly for minority, multi-ethnic, low-income, and under served elderly throughout the state of New York, by providing interdisciplinary, cutting-edge knowledge and training concerning issues, treatments, and service delivery models to a broad range of health care professionals and academic faculty leadership who will train others. 

Training Nurses for Better Care of Older Adults In New York City (Funder: Contract from The New York City Department for the Aging): This program specifically supports programs to enhance the geriatric competencies and skills of professional nurses working throughout the five boroughs of New York City. The program, which collaborates with the Consortium of New York Geriatric Education Centers, offers core and elective trainings to nurses working in hospitals, home care and nursing homes. 

Training of advanced practice nurses in geriatrics (Funder, the Hearst Foundation):  An endowment that supports tuition for students enrolled in the NYU College of Nursing Advanced Practice Program in Geriatrics.

The Geriatric Interdisciplinary Team Training Project (GITT): The NYU College of Nursing supports the ongoing Resource Center for the Geriatric Interdisciplinary Team Training Project (GITT). Initially funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation, Inc. in 1995, GITT has developed an innovative initiative to improve the care of elders by enhancing the interdisciplinary training of health professions students and professionals. The GITT Resource Center at NYU continues to distribute and provide consultation on innovative methodologies for testing students in the health professions as to their knowledge and attitudes about geriatric teams. 

Addressing the Healthcare Challenges of the 21^st Century Through an Innovative Nursing Practice Model (Funders: The Jonas Foundation and The Fan Fox and Leslie Samuels Foundation): This program, a nursing faculty practice led by nurse practitioners and located at the College of Dentistry, addresses the needs of the rapidly growing number of older adults by providing a core of services that includes not only patient-centered disease-based clinical management, but also health promotion and disease prevention resulting in truly comprehensive care. The long term goal is to advance the science of geriatric healthcare through the education of future health professionals and the development of a replicable model of healthcare delivery. Patients over the age of 65 who come to the College of Dentistry for dental services are targeted for nursing care, since these patients represent the most vulnerable populations in the community. 

Developmental Research on Elder Mistreatment (Funder: NIH, R21): The goal of this study is to screen 640 older adults who visit their doctors at 5 primary care clinics for elder mistreatment. The new model will incorporate an elder mistreatment assessment instrument during the patient visit, administered by trained clinician screeners. When elder mistreatment (EM) is screened positive, it will be verified by an expert team. Further, we will explore the feasibility and acceptability of re-screening at 6 months in a follow-up clinic visit to detect incidence of EM. A cross-sectional study design will be used to address the first specific aim, to estimate the prevalence of EM while a prospective cohort study design will be used to address the second specific aim, to estimate the six-month incidence of EM.

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