Learning after graduation: are nurses taking advantage of the resources?

The vast majority of clients in long-term care facilities are elderly, but only half the RNs working with these clients had any specific training related to the elderly either before or after graduation. The majority of respondents preferred to attend educational offerings rather than read journal articles and felt it was beneficial to leave their facility to interact with peers from other agencies. A majority of the nurses read general interest nursing journals rather than ones specifically geared to gerontological nursing or geriatrics. Within an agency, time should be set aside for discussions and nurses should be encouraged to network outside the facility; guest staff nurses should also be encouraged to present new ideas.