To meet the special needs of and provide quality health care to nursing home residents, the health care workforce must be knowledgeable about the aging process. Health professionals are minimally prepared in their academic programs to care for older adults, and few programs have required rotations in geriatrics. Teaching nursing homes (TNHs) have…

In an Italian university, a multidisciplinary course in nursing home care focused on use of the Resident Assessment Instrument. Students learned to use it effectively and developed decision-making and problem-solving abilities using concepts of comprehensive geriatric assessment and multidisciplinary teamwork. (SK)

Workshops in caring were designed to expose attitudes, biases, and concerns of a nursing home staff toward aging, illness, and death. Touches on techniques and materials for encouraging participants to focus on and share feelings. What inhibits or facilitates a caring relationship was the prime focus of both sessions. (Author)

Purpose: Making good consumer decisions requires having good information. This study compared long-term-care recommendations among various types of health professionals. Design and Methods: We gave randomly varied scenarios to a convenience national sample of 211 professionals from varying disciplines and work locations. For each scenario, we…

Employment in nursing homes is projected to increase from 583,000 in 1973 to 1,036,000 in 1985. Substantially more workers are expected to be employed in nearly all occupations. The projected growth of 78% is faster than that expected in any segment of the health industry. Most nursing home employees are service workers. Two of these occupational…

Proposes a series of university nursing education programs developed to increase knowledge and skills relevant to nursing care of elderly and chronically ill persons who reside in nursing homes. Briefly describes five programs intended for persons engaged in long-term care or in preparation for such roles. (EM)

Social interaction and physical activity are important aspects of health maintenance for the aged. A holistic approach to the care of the elderly in nursing homes would involve a team of professionals who encourage residents to pursue such tasks as adaptation to loss, and maintenance of physical activity to retain function. (JN)

Regulations instituted by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare effective in 1976 require skilled nursing facilities (SNF) to provide either a physician serving as medical director, or to have an organized medical staff. This report describes how SNFs responded, and what the effects were on their operations. Descriptive data were…

Since June 1973, Iowa Lakes Community College (Iowa) has been conducting an in-service training program for employees of local nursing homes. The program was designed to upgrade the participants' knowledge of the mental health aspects of care for the aged and to improve their abilities to provide physical health care. The specific objectives of…