Unity in diversity. Outcomes of the Geropsychiatric Nursing Survey

The 264 persons who responded to the geropsychiatric nursing survey were diverse in both preparation and practice arenas. They remained up-to-date in the field through journals, certification and professional memberships, and they supported clinical geropsychiatric nursing research and the need to develop standards in geropsychiatric nursing education. Finally, these nurse respondents expressed a wide variety of policy, practice and educational concerns, most related to improved care for geropsychiatric patients and their families. Obviously, limitations exist to the generalizability of these survey results. First, respondents to this survey, which appeared in two journals, may not be representative of the overall geropsychiatric nursing population. Additionally, the methods for summarizing the survey results are not scientific. However, these results enable us to develop a picture of the geropsychiatric nursing community and provide a foundation for understanding the population and its characteristics.