Introducing baccalaureate student nurses to gerontological nursing

The faculty at the University of Missouri-Columbia Sinclair School of Nursing (MUSSON) developed and implemented a gerontological nursing care course, with support from the Health Resources and Services Administration, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, and the John A. Hartford Foundation. The course, with both didactic and clinical components, was mandatory for all students in the baccalaureate program. The course drew on two resources unique to the MUSSON: Senior Care, the school's home care agency, and TigerPlace, a retirement community closely linked to the school. Goals of the course were to increase knowledge of gerontology and gerontological nursing and to promote more positive student attitudes toward older adults. Evaluation of six semesters of pretest and posttest data found that knowledge increased although attitudes toward older adults did not become more positive. However, despite the lack of quantifiable improvement in attitudes, some students wrote positive comments on end-of-semester course evaluations about experiences and interactions with older adults during the course.