Raising the standard of care to older adults through nursing is an imperative upon us all now. Sixty percent of hospital patients, 80% of home care patients, and 90% of nursing home patients are over 65 years old. It is with pleasure that the John A. Hartford Foundation Institute for Geriatric Nursing, New York University Division of Nursing, makes this Curriculum Guide available to assist in raising the standards of care to the elderly.

Most curriculum aid materials provide an inordinate amount of information because of authors' passion and expertise in their subject matter. More often than not, however, such books sit on shelves because readers find them overwhelming. This Curriculum Guide was written by experts; but we gave them the very difficult task of winnowing down the material to essentials. In pursuing the less is more notion, we chose only topics that promoted concern for the critical issue of quality of life for older adults.

This Curriculum Guide is designed for easy use. Its loose-leaf format allows you to take out and reproduce just those parts you need at a particular time. Each topic is organized in several parts:
          C ompetencies
          C ontent Outline
          I nstruments and Scales
          C ase Study
          E xperiential/Clinical Activities
          E valuation Strategies
          R esources
In addition, there is a free DISK of ready-made teaching Powerpoint slides to accompany each chapter. We encourage duplication of the materials in this guide, because we want you to have resources at your fingertips and to expose this content on best practice care to the elderly to your students.

The Curriculum Guide is comprised of 21 pertinent topics including:

• Attitudes about Aging
• Cross-cultural Influences on Older Adults
• Sensory Changes and Communication with Older Adults
• Functional Assessment of Older Adults
• Cognitive/Mental Assessment of Older Adults
• Depression, Delirium, Dementia in Older Adults
• Pressure Ulcers in Older Adults
• Nutrition: Eating/Feeding of Older Adults
• Sleep/Rest for Older Adults
• Pain/Palliation of Older Adults
• Urinary Continence of Older Adults
• Falls of Older Adults
• Polypharmacy and Older Adults
• Physical Restraint Reduction for Older Adults
• Ethical Issues of Elder Care
• Care Giving/elder Mistreatment
• Teaching Older Adults
• Financing Health Care for Older Adults
• Living Arrangements of Older Adults
• Interdisciplinary Collaboration for Elder Care
• Resources for Gerontology and Gerontological Nursing
• Additional Gerontological Resources

The Curriculum Guide is available for $95.00 plus $5.00 S&H. It is now part of a new program called Partners for Dissemination in Care for Older Adults. We encourage you to investigate the Partnership Program because it offers you many additional resources. For Further Information, either email us at hartford.ign@nyu.edu or call us at 212-998-5355.

Click here to see a sample chapter of our Curriculum Guide