The impact of client selection on clinical teaching

Inclusion of gerontological nursing in curricula is emerging as an issue of concern to faculty of schools of nursing. Using research findings which view the setting and client selection as major determinants of learning outcomes, faculty are experimenting with teaching strategies which support a positive more realistic view of the elderly and their inherent potential and motivation for health. This paper examines the learning outcomes about ageing of a senior clinical experience at the baccalaureate level directed toward learning to nurse the elderly in a responsive and health promoting manner. Students were provided with an opportunity to become comfortable working with the elderly and their families in order to: 1 increase their level of knowledge about the process of ageing; and 2 incorporate this knowledge within a nursing framework by identifying critical aspects of development used in the health assessment of the elderly. The method of study was primarily experiential in nature with each student making a series of home visits over a 3-month period to one selected client family. Two groups of clients participated in the programme: clients in group A were maintaining themselves in their own homes, were not anticipating institutionalization and were in good health; clients in group B were in hospital for treatment of a major health problem but would be recuperating in their own homes. By using Palmore's Facts on Ageing Quiz, it was determined that client selection did in fact make a difference vis-à-vis learning outcomes about ageing and the aged.