[The education and training of manpower in elderly & long-term care]

With the rapid expansion of the aged population, elderly & long-term care has become a significant issue in Taiwan, as in many developed countries, such as Japan. Service resources in long-term care have benefitted profoundly from investment and development in the past 15 years in Taiwan, but the education and training of manpower in long-term care has only recently begun to be addressed. The purpose of this article is to describe the education and training of nursing manpower in long-term care in Taiwan and in other countries. Three recommendations are also made: (1) To integrate Gerontology Nursing & Practicum into the nursing curriculum to cultivate nursing students with competency in providing direct care and competency in accountability. (2) To prepare RN-BSN students with secondary competency in management/information & communication/activities design. (3) To incorporate faculty from across disciplines in the running of gerontology & long-term care programs in order to develop students' competency in transdisciplinary team work.