Geriatric nursing in the baccalaureate curriculum

Increased gerontological nursing content is needed in the curriculum of schools of nursing because of a dramatic increase in the number of older persons, many of whom will need specialized health care. A review of the gerontological nursing content in the current courses of a college of nursing led to specific recommendations for change and additions to the curriculum. A published list of suggested gerontological nursing content was used as a guide to determine which topics needed to be integrated into the curriculum. An ongoing evaluation of the curriculum is needed to determine the appropriateness of the content changes and to determine if students perform better as a result of these changes.