POLICY Preparation of Nurse Workforce to Care for Older Adults

POLICY

Preparation of Nurse Workforce to Care for Older Adults: The institute has a number of initiatives looking at workforce issues for care of older adults generally, and for those frail adults residing in long-term care settings.

An ongoing initiative is to describe practice models of advanced practice nurses in long term care facilities. The 3 activities of this initiative are: 1) A national survey, conducted In collaboration with the American Medical Directors Association (AMDA), to determine the number of geriatric nurse practitioners caring for residents in nursing homes, and to describe the characteristics of this practice (manuscript in preparation); 2) A summary of existing advanced practice nursing models in long term care, including the structure of existing practice models, types of collaboration with physicians and other health care professionals, state to state variation in practice acts/ actual practice, obstacles to practice, reimbursement methodology and any measured outcomes (manuscript in preparation) and 3) An invitational conference/symposium to disseminate information and training material and to provide a forum to share information and discuss policy strategies going forward.

Publications on the Nurse Work Force:
(* please also refer to the Comprehensive Resource Section)

Kovner CT, Mezey M, Harrington C. (2002). Who Care for Older Adults? Workforce Implications of an Aging Society. Health Affairs, 21(5): 78-89.

Reinhard SC, Barber PM, Mezey M, Mitty E, Peed J. (2002). Initiatives to Promote the Nursing Workforce in Geriatrics. Washington DC: The Institute for the Future of Aging Services (IFAS), American Association of Homes and Services for the Aged.

Ambulatory visits by adult and older patients to nurses and nurse practitioners: Analysis of MEPS data: The Institute has completed an analysis of data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) describing ambulatory visits to nurses and nurse practitioners. An analysis of visits by older adults to nurses and nurse practitioners is ongoing.

Publications from the MEPS Data Analysis:
(* please also refer to the Comprehensive Resource Section)

Kovner C, Mezey M, Londano, G, Menezes J. Ambulatory Care Visits to Nurses and Nurse Practitioners: Data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (submitted).

Additional Publications on Policy:
(* please also refer to the Comprehensive Resource Section)

Lee, T., Kovner, C., Mezey, M., Ko, I. (2001). "Factors Influencing Long-Term Home Care Utilization by the Older Population: Implications for Targeting," Public Health Nursing, 18:6.

Kovner, C., Mezey, M. (2000). "Nursing Research Publications On Older Adults," Nursing Research, 49:2.

Harrington, C., Kovner, C., Mezey, M., Kayser-Jones, J., Burger, S., Mohler, M., Burke, R., Zimmerman, D. (2000)."Experts Recommend Minimum Nurse Staffing Standards for Nursing Facilities in the US," The Gerontologist, 40:1.

Kovner, C., Mezey, M., Harrington, C.(2000). "Research Priorities for Staffing, Case Mix, and Quality of Care in U.S. Nursing Homes," Journal Nursing Scholarship, 32:1.

Kovner, C., Mezey, M. (1999). "They Just Don't Get It," American Journal of Nursing, 7:9.