Advancing Care Excellence for Seniors | Distance Learning Systems (DLSI)

New Faculty Resource from NLN

Meet Butch Sampson, 62, a homeless veteran exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam; Jenny Brown, 23, and Randy Adams, 28, who both saw action in Iraq; and Eugene Shaw, 82, a former Marine who served in Korea. They signify the new faces in the NLN’s collection of unfolding cases in the latest access into the NLN’s impressive faculty resources and development, developed in collaboration with Laerdal Medical: Improving Care Excellence for Veterans (ACE/V).

“In Apr 2012, when First Lady Michele Obama and Dr. Jill Biden were two well-known profiles calling on our country’s medical service providers to better address the serious wellness care needs of American veterans, the National League for Nursing reacted quickly,” noticed NLN CEO Beverly Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN. “The Group took part in the Obama-Biden initiative, joining forces by marshaling the best educating sources and resources then available in a website for health professional teachers to access in preparing the next generation of nurses to look after this unique population of military men and women and their loved ones.

“Now, thanks to the support provided by our associates at Laerdal, the NLN has been able to nurture this important area of nursing education with an extensive new educating resources for the treatment veterans and close relatives suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic injury to the brain, and a host of related physical, mental wellness and social problems associated with combat,” Dr. Malone mentioned. Added NLN President Marsha Howell Adams, PhD, RN, CNE, ANEF and senior associate dean of educational programs at the University of Alabama Capstone College of Nursing: “Through our experience with the NLN trademark program, Advancing Care Excellence for Seniors (ACES), we learned how the power of storytelling, along with the experiential nature of simulator circumstances, makes an effective, significant experience for students that imitate many of the difficulties presented by continuity of care. That’s why we chose to model the unfolding ACE/V cases after the well known, effective ACES unfolding cases.”

NLN’s Alzheimer’s Curricula

Between 5.6 and 8 million, nearly one in five senior citizens in America, suffer from at least one illness affecting psychological wellness, according to a report released last year by the Institute of Medicine, “The Mental Substance Use Workforce for Older Adults: In Whose Hands?” Among these devastating cognitive/emotional conditions is Alzheimer’s, a diagnosis often accompanied by multiple physical problems and psycho/social morbidity that occur during a period of life transition. Today, however, too few medical experts, nurses included, are adequately equipped to deal with the exclusive difficulties of looking after this weak, vulnerable population, one bound to grow as Baby Boomers age.

To address this worrying gap in medical knowledge and clinical practice by the medical workforce on the frontline of primary care for elderly people, the National League for Nursing will create specific curricula and sources for the NLN’s country wide recognized signature program in geriatrics education: ACES (Advancing Care Excellence for Seniors). With a $125,000 grant from MetLife Foundation to the NLN Foundation for Nursing Education, funds will be used in 2013 to create three inter-professional educating techniques and three unfolding web-based case research for ACES. Related models, also to be developed as part of the new project, will provide staff with classroom-ready templates for instruction and guidelines for developing new knowledge into the core program. In addition, the unfolding case research and relevant models will highlight complex medical care situations experienced by Alzheimer’s illness sufferers and their families, presenting learners with opportunities to think and act in ‘real time,’ using evidence-based medical assessment and involvement techniques.

“By adding specific program sources for educating about care of sufferers with Alzheimer’s and their care providers, the NLN will be an important resource for staff to train learners in rehabilitation, wellness promotion, medical care and public service recommendation for the specific care for elderly people with mental problems, specifically Alzheimer’s,” stated NLN chief executive Judith A. Halstead, PhD, RN, FAAN, ANEF.

Technology and Senior Care

Technological innovation has already made waves in senior care through the use smart-sensor systems that can observe residents’ motions, nearly removing the need for a room-by-room check in the morning. Eight in ten assisted living residents need help handling their medicine, according to the National Center for Assisted Living, and medicine management is placed to be the next focus for time saving performance through a new technology coming to market: digital pills. But that is not all they can do. Imagine a regular day in a senior care setting. Care providers visit the bedrooms of all citizens who get medicine. They provide the medicines and then wait around several minutes for each resident to take them, one by one, guaranteeing the amounts are not neglected or lost.

But what if the care provider simply left the daily amount and move along to the next resident, not having to worry about awaiting each individual to take each pill? Enter: digital pills. The development was released by Proteus Digital Health and obtained U.S. Food and Drug Administration acceptance last July 2012. The technologies are now being promoted for at-home use in Britain and will be getting in U.S. medical centers later this year, which could have wide significances for senior care. “Our electronic health reviews program is designed to help individuals better handle their care each and every day,” says David O’Reilly, primary product official. “Whether it nudges to help individuals keep on track with their schedule or better advised caregivers and physicians, the program will provide significant benefit to those who are suffering from way of life changes as a result of getting older.”

The digital pill works as part of a system to monitor and observe a person’s consumption of medicine as well as vital symptoms and activity. On standard, seniors use five to six prescriptions, according to a 2007 study released in the Journal of Internal Medicine. The digital pill has the ability of being integrated into medicine themselves, or being taken as a placebo pill along with medicine. Once digestive function starts, the pill, which contains an electronic indicator about the size of a grain of sand, goes to work. It sends data through a wearable patch, via Bluetooth straight to a family member’s or caregiver’s mobile phone or computer, allowing that individual to know the medicine has been taken, whether the individual is up and about, and even health alerts.

National League for Nursing New Curriculum

Between 5.6 and 8 million, nearly one in five elderly people in America suffer from at least one illness impacting psychological wellness, according to an escalating report released last year by the Institute of Medicine. Among these devastating cognitive/emotional conditions is Alzheimer’s, a study often associated with multiple physical problems and psycho/social co-morbidities that occur during a period of life transition Today, however, too few medical professionals, nursing staff included, are effectively equipped to handle the unique difficulties of looking after for this weak, insecure population, one bound to grow as Baby Boomers age.

Related models, also to be developed as part of the new project, will provide staff with classroom-ready templates for training and guidelines for developing new knowledge into the core program. In addition, the unfolding situation research and relevant models will emphasize complex medical care situations experienced by Alzheimer’s disease sufferers and their families, introducing learners with opportunities to think and act in ‘real time,’ using evidence-based medical evaluation and involvement techniques. “By adding specific program sources for training about proper care for sufferers with Alzheimer’s and their care providers, the National League for Nursing will be an important resource for staff to train learners in recovery, wellness promotion, medical care and public service recommendation for the specific care for elderly people with mental problems, specifically Alzheimer’s,” stated National League for Nursing chief executive Judith A. Halstead, PhD, RN, FAAN, ANEF.