With the world's population aging, geriatric care is more important than ever before. However, many studies have shown that nursing students are less likely to choose geriatric nursing as career than other nursing fields. Nursing students play a vital role in the development of geriatric nursing. Thus, this study aimed to explore the current…

In view of population aging, more older persons are being admitted to acute hospitals. However, the level of care that older people receive is suboptimal. Nurses' negative attitudes and inadequate level of knowledge strongly influence the level of care. The study sought to explore medical and surgical nurses' knowledge and attitudes related to…

Anchored on the key constucts of Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior (1985), this paper seeks to test a model that explores the influence of knowledge, attitude, and caring behavior on nursing students' behavioral intention toward geriatric care. A five-part survey-questionnaire was administered to 839 third and fourth year nursing students from a…

The objective of this study was to identify differences between geriatricians and hospitalists in caring for hospitalized older adults, so as to inform faculty development programs that have the goal of improving older patient care. Eleven hospitalists and 13 geriatricians were surveyed regarding knowledge, confidence, and practice patterns in…

The international community is facing the pressure of aging societies. In the United States of America, we will shortly be facing the aging of baby boomers, a dramatically large population expected to peak as senior citizens in 2030 at 70 million. Global societies are facing a crisis: lack of adequately trained and emotionally oriented personnel…

Community physicians should be knowledgeable of basic geriatrics to cope with the challenges posed by the growing number of older patients and their complex needs. A survey of knowledge in basic health care for elderly persons, carried out by our team in 1996, revealed that it was insufficient. The authors repeated this survey in 2006, by using…

Nurses play a significant role in geriatric care. However, as the aging population and demand for geriatric nurses increase worldwide, shortages of nurses seem to arise. This creates the need to assess and address the motivation and attitudes of nurses toward geriatric care. The intent of this qualitative study is to surface the essence or the…

The continually rising percentage of the elderly population and the demand for geriatric nursing care are dramatically related. While it is true that most undergraduate programs prepare nurses for the care of geriatric patients, most receive limited academic preparation in the nursing curriculum (Williams & Mezey, 2000). This is particularly…

Assessed hearing health knowledge of 336 younger and older adults using the Hearing and Health Inventory. Data analyses revealed serious knowledge deficits regarding hearing aids, communication with the hearing impaired, and the effects of drugs and diseases on hearing. Strategies for developing hearing health education for clients are…

Pharmacists (N=233) responded to the question "What is the most difficult aspect of geriatric pharmacy practice?" Most commonly cited problems were (1) inadequate professional skills or knowledge in geriatrics; (2) patient compliance; (3) physician functioning (including overprescribing of medications); (4) communication with the elderly; (5) lack…

This study examines the impact of an interdisciplinary training program on knowledge and attitudes of learners from four health care programs: medicine, pharmacy, social work, and nursing. Sixty-two learners participated in a 4-day educational program (one day each week for 4 weeks) focusing on interdisciplinary geriatric care. After completing…

Family physicians may lack discriminatory ability to differentiate normal aging form disease states. To assess such ability, 53 aging-related indicators or symptoms were presented to 65 physicians in 3 family practice residency programs. Respondents classified each symptom as normal aging or disease. On average, residents classified 73.4% of…

At the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine, we developed a voluntary senior-mentor program, the Senior Teacher Educator Partnership (STEP), for first- and second-year medical students. Using qualitative research methods, we examined the impact of STEP on medical students' attitudes and then assessed the congruence of what is learned…

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of an educational intervention on the knowledge and attitudes of pre-allied health students toward older adults. The subjects were 41 pre-allied health students assigned to an intervention (n = 19) or comparison group (n = 22). The intervention group participated in a six-hour multi-modal…

Depression is a prevalent and serious problem among nursing home residents. Nursing home staff members are gatekeepers for mental health treatment for residents, but may know little about depression and its management. We evaluated a didactic workshop for nursing home staff on depressive symptoms and management. Results for 58 staff participants…