PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Addressing the geriatric healthcare workforce shortage

Successful new training method one of first to use virtual standardized patients

2024-10-01
(Press-News.org) INDIANAPOLIS – The pandemic has highlighted the acute shortage of nurses and nursing assistants needed to care for the growing number of older adults in long-term care facilities. Yet getting nursing students excited, engaged and feeling competent to take on the challenges of caring for nursing home patients has proved elusive.

To address this critical workforce gap, researchers from Regenstrief Institute and the Indiana University School of Medicine have developed and tested an innovative curriculum for nursing students, exposing them to geriatric care early in their training with the goal of interesting more of them in specializing in care for older adults.

A new study presents the curriculum, one of the first to use virtual standardized patients, which could be incorporated into various healthcare provider training programs worldwide.

“Traditionally, geriatric curriculums taught in schools of nursing are focused on medical content -- improving medical knowledge in areas critically important in geriatric care such as dementia, mobility and medication risks,” said Regenstrief Institute and the IU School of Medicine research scientist Debra Litzelman, M.D., M.A., senior author of the study. “Our work takes it to the next level of being able to actually practice clinical skills with virtual simulated patients, providing a higher level of training. We often talk in the education world of knowledge, attitudes and skills. Our curriculum covers all three.

“Our hope is that by showing the effectiveness of geriatric virtual standardized patients in educating nurses about geriatric care, this approach could be used in the training of professionals providing patient care to other age groups and for various diseases in a wide range of geographic settings. It's exportable methodology and I see the potential for an explosion of tiers of workforce members in geriatrics as well as other specialties.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are approximately 59.2 million persons in the U.S. over age 65, an increase of 9.4 percent between 2020 and 2023. This rise in older adults in the U.S. is due both to extended longevity and the aging of the “baby boomer” population, those born between 1946 and 1964.

The development and testing of the new geriatrics nursing training is part of a larger effort by the researchers to increase the primary care workforce focused on care of older adults by interprofessional teams including doctors, physician assistants, social workers and community health workers as well as nurses.

“Older adults have nuances and complexities in their psychosocial, physiological and medical statuses. They require specialized management of their health provided by professionals who have been educated about the variations of care needed by older adults to optimize their overall well-being. However, despite the need for specialized health professionals, there are inadequate numbers of instructors trained in geriatric fields,” said study author Glenda Westmoreland, M.D., MPH, associate professor of clinical medicine and director of geriatric education at the IU School of Medicine. “One solution to the low numbers of current health professionals available to care for older adults and train the upcoming generation of healthcare providers is to identify creative teaching options.

“The virtual simulated patients curriculum provides students’ opportunity to practice addressing concerns common in older adults including mobility limitations, mentation --especially confusion -- and safe medication use. Additionally, students explore how to ask, “What matters most?” -- providing them with the skill to confidently ask this essential question when implementing care for patients. Our use of virtual simulated patients is not only applicable in teaching nursing students geriatric education; it can be applied to all health care professionals interacting with older adults.”

“Responding to a nursing mandate in long-term care: A multi-modal pilot curriculum for bachelor of science in nursing students” is published in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. The study was funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program /U1QHP2871. (P.I.: Debra Litzelman, M.D., M.A.).

Authors and affiliations:

Glenda R. Westmoreland, M.D.1,2,3 | Kathryn I. Frank, R.N., PhD2 | Emilie L. Garrison, B.A.2 | Qing Tang, M.S.4 | Julia Loubeau, MSN, AGPCNP-C3 | Julie Krieger, MSN, AGPCNP-BC3 | Sarah Hartman, N.P.3 | Sarah Roth, MHA, MPH, PMP, CCRP4 | Debra K. Litzelman M.A., M.D., MACP1,2,3,4

1Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, USA | 2Department of Medicine, Indiana University, Indianapolis, USA | 3Department of Medicine, Indiana University Health, Indianapolis, USA | 4Regenstrief Institute, Indianapolis, USA

Debra Litzelman, M.D., M.A.

In addition to her role as a research scientist in the William M. Tierney Center for Health Services Research at Regenstrief Institute, Debra Litzelman, M.D., M.A., is the D. Craig Brater Professor of Global Health Education and a professor of medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine and the director of education for the Indiana University Center for Global Health Equity. Dr. Litzelman serves on the Education Leadership Cabinet at Indiana University School of Medicine and on the Global Health Leadership Committee at the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute.

END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Age trumps gender, income and postcode for consumers' clothing habits

Age trumps gender, income and postcode for consumers clothing habits
2024-10-01
The first-ever nationwide study into how Australians use and dispose of clothing has revealed people are buying too many clothes and are unsure how to discard them responsibly. Conducted by RMIT University and commissioned by the Kmart Group and the Queensland Government, a study of 3,080 Australians explored how they acquired, used and disposed of their clothing. Australians are among the world’s biggest clothing consumers, importing 1.4 billion units or over 383,000 tonnes annually. But each year, more than 200,000 tonnes of clothing is sent to landfill. The authors recommend establishing a national textile collection program for unwearable clothing that ...

Researchers develop method to obtain fine spatial and temporal resolution land surface temperature data

Researchers develop method to obtain fine spatial and temporal resolution land surface temperature data
2024-10-01
Scientists need fine spatial and temporal resolution land surface temperature (LST) data for many types of research and applications. Spatio-temporal fusion, a technique that combines data from multiple sources to create high-resolution images with both spatial (space) and temporal (time) details, is an important solution for researchers needing fine spatio-temporal resolution LST data. A team of researchers propose a new spatio-temporal fusion method based on Restormer (RES-STF).   Their work is published in the Journal of Remote Sensing on August 21, 2024.   LST data, the measurement ...

Feet first: AI reveals how infants connect with their world

Feet first: AI reveals how infants connect with their world
2024-10-01
Recent advances in computing and artificial intelligence, along with insights into infant learning, suggest that machine and deep learning techniques can help us study how infants transition from random exploratory movements to purposeful actions. Most research has focused on babies’ spontaneous movements, distinguishing between fidgety and non-fidgety behaviors. While early movements may seem chaotic, they reveal meaningful patterns as infants interact with their environment. However, we still lack understanding of how infants intentionally engage with their surroundings and the principles guiding their ...

Addressing health equity in childhood asthma requires engaging affected communities

Addressing health equity in childhood asthma requires engaging affected communities
2024-10-01
NEW YORK, NY (Oct. 1, 2024) – Systemic racism remains a significant challenge in efforts to address health disparities in childhood asthma. A new American Thoracic Society report provides practical frameworks to begin the research necessary to make real progress in treating asthma in Black and Latino children, who are more likely than their white counterparts to report to emergency rooms in the U.S. Stephanie Lovinsky-Desir, MD, and a diverse group of researchers, clinicians, social scientists and community health workers shared their findings in the report published online this week in ...

Light-based microcapillary monitoring sparks innovation in manufacturing and biotechnology

Light-based microcapillary monitoring sparks innovation in manufacturing and biotechnology
2024-10-01
Dr. Jaeyeon Pyo of the Smart 3D Printing Research Team at the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI) has developed a breakthrough technology that uses light to visualize nanoscale glass microcapillary tips, enabling precise and delicate contact with other objects. A “‘Microcapillary” is a precision tool with a very small aperture (0.1 mm to 0.000010 mm in diameter) fabricated from a glass tube. It is utilized as a vital tool in various fields, from biotechnology to manipulate cells, to micro electroplating and nano 3D printing. Specifically, it is used in biotechnology faor tasks such as injecting sperm into an egg during in vitro fertilization (IVF) ...

Global effort to map the human brain releases first data

Global effort to map the human brain releases first data
2024-10-01
Seattle, WA – October 1, 2024 – The BRAIN Initiative® Cell Atlas Network (BICAN) has launched its first major data release, marking a significant milestone in the ambitious effort to map the whole human brain. The data, accessible through the BICAN Rapid Release Inventory, includes single-cell and single-nucleus transcriptomic and epigenomic profiles from humans, mice, and 10 other mammalian species. Sourced from multiple grants and labs within the consortium, including the Allen Institute, these data are from projects that aim to identify and define brain cell types based on molecular profiles.    “The ...

Scientists discover planet orbiting closest single star to our Sun

Scientists discover planet orbiting closest single star to our Sun
2024-10-01
Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT), astronomers have discovered an exoplanet orbiting Barnard’s star, the closest single star to our Sun. On this newly discovered exoplanet, which has at least half the mass of Venus, a year lasts just over three Earth days. The team’s observations also hint at the existence of three more exoplanet candidates, in various orbits around the star. Located just six light-years away, Barnard’s star is the second-closest stellar system — after Alpha Centauri’s three-star group — and the closest individual star to us. Owing to its proximity, it is a primary target in ...

New ACS report: Breast cancer mortality continues three decade decline overall, but steeper increases in incidence for women

New ACS report: Breast cancer mortality continues three decade decline overall, but steeper increases in incidence for women
2024-10-01
The American Cancer Society (ACS) today released Breast Cancer Statistics, 2024, the organization’s biennial update on breast cancer occurrence and trends in the United States. The new report finds breast cancer mortality rates overall have dropped by 44% since 1989, averting approximately 517,900 breast cancer deaths. However, not all women have benefited from this progress, notably American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) women, whose rates have remained unchanged over the past three decades. Also concerning ...

Immigrants to the United States still assimilate

2024-10-01
Children of immigrants to the United States typically incorporate themselves into US economic and cultural life, and this pattern of assimilation has not markedly changed in over a century. Today, one in seven US residents was born abroad, rates similar to those seen in the late nineteenth century. As immigrants’ countries of origin have shifted from Europe to Asia and the Americas, a narrative has developed that contemporary immigrants do not assimilate as thoroughly as older immigrants. But is this true? In a Perspective, Ran Abramitzky and Leah Boustan summarize their long-running research program matching individuals across historical US Censuses. The authors compare ...

Vaccinating the young to save the old in the Tropics

Vaccinating the young to save the old in the Tropics
2024-10-01
A model suggests that vaccinating children and teens against the flu can help protect the elderly in tropical countries. Influenza kills up to 650,000 people worldwide every year. In part due to the lack of strong seasonality and differences in vaccine supply, optimal vaccination strategies for the tropics may differ from those in temperate zones. Joseph Servadio and colleagues parameterized an age-structured mathematical model of influenza transmission to the asynchronous, non-annual epidemiology of tropical influenza in Vietnam, a country with low vaccine coverage. The model includes three subtypes of the flu virus. Vaccinating year-round was found to be ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Scientists discover a secret to regulating our body clock, offering new approach to end jet lag

Impact of pollutants on pollinators, and how neural circuits adapt to temperature changes

Researchers seek to improve advanced pain management using AI for drug discovery

‘Neutron Nexus’ brings universities, ORNL together to advance science

Early release from NEJM Evidence

UMass Amherst astronomer leads science team helping to develop billion-dollar NASA satellite mission concept

Cultivating global engagement in bioengineering education to train students skills in biomedical device design and innovation

Life on Earth was more diverse than classical theory suggests 800 million years ago, a Brazilian study shows

International clean energy initiative launches global biomass resource assessment

How much do avoidable deaths impact the economy?

Federal government may be paying twice for care of veterans enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans

New therapeutic target for cardiac arrhythmias emerges

UC Irvine researchers are first to reveal role of ophthalmic acid in motor function control

Moffitt study unveils the role of gamma-delta T cells in cancer immunology

Drier winter habitat impacts songbirds’ ability to survive migration

Donors enable 445 TPDA awards to Neuroscience 2024

Gut bacteria engineered to act as tumor GPS for immunotherapies

Are auditory magic tricks possible for a blind audience?

Research points to potential new treatment for aggressive prostate cancer subtype

Studies examine growing US mental health safety net

Social risk factor domains and preventive care services in US adults

Online medication abortion direct-to-patient fulfillment before and after the Dobbs v Jackson decision

Black, Hispanic, and American Indian adolescents likelier than white adolescents to be tested for drugs, alcohol at pediatric trauma centers

Pterosaurs needed feet on the ground to become giants

Scientists uncover auditory “sixth sense” in geckos

Almost half of persons who inject drugs (PWID) with endocarditis will die within five years; women are disproportionately affected

Experimental blood test improves early detection of pancreatic cancer

Groundbreaking wastewater treatment research led by Oxford Brookes targets global challenge of toxic ‘forever chemicals’

Jefferson Health awarded $2.4 million in PCORI funding

Cilta-cel found highly effective in first real-world study

[Press-News.org] Addressing the geriatric healthcare workforce shortage
Successful new training method one of first to use virtual standardized patients