A Critical Review of Research on the Human/Companion Animal Relationship: 1988 to 1993

Fifty-two research reports from the human/companion animal relationship literature published from 1988 to 1993 were reviewed using a shortened farm of the Selby Research, Assessment Form II (RAF) Descriptive data were analyzed for characteristics such as attributes of authors, grant funding, purposes, quality of literature reviews and conceptual frameworks, settings and sampling, research designs, and implications for future research. Qualitative data describing results of studies were summarized. Over half of the studies were published in Anthrozoös and were not grant funded. These were primarily nonexperimental studies using nonprobability, nongeneralizable samples. Social support was the most frequently cited framework. Understudied populations were rural groups, the middle aged, adolescents, and institutionalized elders. Few errors were committed in describing instruments or reporting analyses of data

Recognize the many facets of gerontological nursing

Fact: Older adults influence hospital environments. This patient population is now the predominant recipient of services in all healthcare settings—50% of hospital patients, 70% of home care patients, and 90% of ambulatory patients.1 Patients over age 65 account for 48% of critical care unit admissions and more than 50% of critical care days.2 Hospitalized older patients use more resources and have higher charges and longer stays, accounting for up to 70% of cost outliers.3,4 Nurse leaders of hospital units with high percentages of patients over 65 years of age face numerous challenges, including personnel, organizational structure, and regulatory requirements. There's little information, however, on management issues in hospital units that aren't designated specifically for older adults

What are Old People For?

We are entering the most age-rich period in human history, and the graying of humankind offers us opportunities to adopt alternative perspectives and redefine issues and questions related to aging and longevity. William H. Thomas, a well-known geriatrician, questions current societal views of aging and the aged in his 2004 book, What Are Old People For? How Elders Will Save the World. Drawing on popular culture, history, science, and literature to explore what aging really is, Thomas presents elderhood as a developmental stage of life that is an essential part of a healthy society and is as important in its own way as childhood and active adulthood

Education/community collaborations for undergraduate nursing gerontological clinical experiences

In 2000, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and the John A. Hartford Foundation Institute for Geriatric Nursing developed guidelines to help nurse educators incorporate gerontological nursing content into baccalaureate curricula. In 2001, the Hartford Foundation also provided grant monies to nursing programs to support gerontology curricular innovations and new clinical experiences. The funding allowed faculty to focus time, energy, and resources on gerontological nursing education. We, the authors, representing two funded schools of nursing, collaborated with community agencies to develop undergraduate gerontological clinical learning experiences and are encouraged by the results. This article describes the development of these collaborations and serves as a model for other schools of nursing. The education/community collaborations described here focus on clinical learning strategies, implementation activities, and outcomes/benefits of the experiences. Both educational programs had supportive administration, faculty willing to participate in curriculum change, organized plans to implement geriatric curricular enhancement, and long-standing community partnerships

Nursing home environments

Nursing homes! What horrible images those words conjure up for most Americans. Those of us who work in long-term care encounter the public beliefs that taking up residence in a nursing home is an irreversible road to suffering and death. People picture institutions that are cold and sterile environments with hospital-like rooms and long, uncarpeted hallways and institutional colors. Residents of nursing homes are imagined as frail older folks, who are deteriorating and disabled, existing in rooms shared by like individuals, at best dimly aware of their environments and isolated from the wider society. Time in a nursing home is envisioned as passing slowly with each day regimented and boring. It is little wonder that many older people in this country fear being "put into" a nursing home, to the point of extracting solemn promises from family never to allow this to happen. Some families suffer great guilt and anguish about the decision to move their older relatives to nursing homes. Nursing home caregivers have low status in the hierarchy of health care workers, evidenced by comparatively low pay and high turnover. Care of residents is directed at treating their individual medical problems, but actually differs little from resident to resident. The staff is clearly separated from the residents by a wide gulf of power homes authority. In addition, nursing homes are self-contained communities, usually with little or no connection to the activities of the neighborhoods in which they are located. Nursing home residents are not generally seen as growing, thriving individuals with busy, full, active lives. Building friendships, discovering talents, enjoying involvement with children, families, animals, caregivers, and the greater community are not envisioned as possibilities for nursing home residents

The positive influence of animals: Animal assisted therapy in acute care

Animal Assisted Therapy is a therapeutic nursing intervention that brings animals together with persons with physical and/or emotional needs as a way of meeting those needs. It is based on the growing knowledge of benefits that animals provide to the sick, elderly, and isolated. A model for a responsible and outcome-oriented program in animal-assisted therapy in acute care settings is described in this article. Special areas include: types of therapy, specific treatment goals, patient and animal suitability, environmental considerations, and evaluation methods

Does continuing education in gerontology lead to changes in nursing practice?

Continuing education (CE) is intended to enable nurses to pursue their professional development, be lifelong learners, and function in their roles safely and proficiently. The challenge for those providing CE programs for practicing nurses has been to establish the importance of these programs for improving nursing practice and patient outcomes. It is difficult to determine whether nurses who attend these courses implement what they have learned because evaluation methods are varied, are limited to isolated programs, and have focused on teaching strategies. This article describes two models of CE programs in gerontological nursing for practicing RNs, both of which use interactive and collaborative teaching strategies to teach best practices in geriatric nursing, as well as changes in nursing practice resulting from educatio

Characteristics of nursing homes adopting environmental transformations

During the past few years, many nursing homes in North Carolina have formulated plans to transform or enhance their environments to make the facilities more desirable places to live and work. The purpose of this study was to compare characteristics of facilities adopting one specific model for environmental transformation. The Eden Alternative; with those adopting other environmental transformations or making no changes. Surveys were mailed to administrators of all (n = 378) certified nursing facilities in NC. A total of 167 surveys were returned, for a return rate of 44%. Of these, almost three fourths were planning or implementing some sort of environmental transformation. Thirty-seven facilities (22%) indicated they were currently adopting the Eden Alternative, and 47 (28%) were planning to adopt it. Twenty-six facilities (16%) reported they were currently adopting an environmental transformation other than the Eden Alternative, and another 9 (5%) were planning to adopt another environmental transformation. The facilities adopting or planning environmental transformation other than the Eden Alternative reported adopting (or planning to adopt) various components of the Eden Alternative. Forty-six facilities (28%) indicated they had no plans for environmental transformation. Facilities making environmental transformations were found to be similar to those making no changes on most variables examined, supporting the conclusion that environmental transformation is feasible for facilities with a wide range of characteristics

Required clinical course in gerontology: The key to providing competent nurse caregivers for the elderly

In 1986 the faculty of the School of Nursing at UNCG began a major curriculum revision. Part of the new curriculum was an innovative and, for some of the faculty, a frightening course— a required clinical course in gerontological nursing. The decision to require such a course was, and is, rare; gerontology content in any form ranges from little or none to "adequate" in undergraduate nursing curricula! Yurchuck and Brower/8 for example, found that in 75% of the programs they surveyed, students were only sometimes assigned to older clients in their clinical courses; only 20% of the programs required gerontological textbooks. During the period when the under-graduate gerontological nursing course was being developed, a new concentration in gerontological nursing was developed for the master's program, and a proposal submitted to the Division of Nursing, Department of Health and Human Services, was funded. During that time, since faculty prepared in gerontology are a rare breed, adult health faculty were assigned to teach the course, for two reasons: a good deal of the content was familiar to them, and there simply were more of them, Faculty began to search the literature to identify content, teaching strategies, and experiential activities to in-crease undergraduate students' knowledge of the aging process, the health care needs of the aged, and the specifics of gerontological nursing practice. Preparation to teach the course became a learning experience for faculty as they delved into the field and brain-stormed course schedules, student experiences, and teaching strategies. Their efforts increased their own knowledge; perhaps more important, faculty gained a heightened sensitivity to the elderly. Through guest lectures and assistance in planning clinical experiences, gerontological nursing faculty from the master's concentration helped ensure that the course would be a gerontological nursing course, not an adult health course with some gerontological content. As faculty have interacted with students, elderly people and their families, and other health professionals involved in care of the aged, their knowledge levels and awareness have continued to grow

Caring for older adults in the radiology department. Are you prepared?

Elders are the fastest growing segment of our population. In fact, we are in the middle of a longevity revolution. They account for 50% of hospital days and fill 60-70% of hospital beds; in addition, they make up 70% of homecare patients and 90% of nursing home residents. The numbers and percentages of older adults are continuing to rise; they are now the core business of health care, using the majority of health care services. Older adults are not the same as younger adults, and the age-related changes that are present will affect the care provided. To provide compassionate, quality care, health care professionals need to be aware of the changes associated with aging. In fact, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health care Organizations now requires that health care staff demonstrate age-specific competencies. This article provides an overview of normal age-related changes and strategies for caring for older adults in radiology departments, or “Clinical Alerts.” (J Radiol Nurs 2007;26:11-14.