News Release

Local angles: Sarasota, Fla.

Program to improve care of state’s elderly population grows;
made accessible to nurses in rural and underserved areas

CHAPEL HILL - Improving the health of North Carolina’s elderly population by bringing education and training in geriatric care to nurses in rural or underserved areas is the goal of a new partnership between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing and the North Carolina Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) program.

“North Carolina’s elderly population is growing rapidly, but few nurses are formally trained in geriatric nursing,” said Dr. Mary H. Palmer, UNC Umphlet Distinguished Professor in Aging in the School of Nursing. “Our program uses innovative geriatric clinical simulations to train nurses how to recognize and respond to changes in acutely ill older patients, and improve the quality of their responses, ultimately leading to better patient outcomes.”

Funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the UNC Nursing School started the program, Improving the Nursing Care of Acutely Ill Elders, in 2003.

“In just three years, we’ve had 300 nurses from 50 counties sign up to increase their geriatric nursing knowledge and competency,” Palmer said, “but not every nurse can travel to Chapel Hill.  The AHEC partnership and additional federal funding means School of Nursing faculty can take the training directly to nurses working in rural and underserved areas.”

The program will launch simultaneously this month in two rural/underserved regions of North Carolina including a five-county area where, according to U.S. census data, the poverty rate is 20.4 percent for persons aged 65 years and older. The state average for this age group is 13.7 percent.

School of Nursing faculty will teach two AHEC nurses from each area how to conduct the program workshops and the geriatric clinical simulations.  The AHEC nurses will then lead continuing education programs in their area. AHEC will provide the nurses with access to state-of-the-art computerized mannequins for the clinical simulations. 

The mannequin, called Stan (short for Standard Man), is manufactured by Medical Education Technologies, Inc. of Sarasota, Fla. Stan’s cardiac, neurological and respiratory systems can be programmed to imitate the health conditions of either a man or woman, and can react to changes in real time. These real-time scenarios allow nurses to practice treating and reacting to a variety of acute health conditions prevalent in older adults.

“Program evaluations have shown a statistically significant increase in geriatric treatment knowledge for program participants,” said Dr. Vicki Kowlowitz, clinical associate professor and director of the School of Nursing’s Center for Instructional Technology and Educational Support. “Additionally, evaluations completed by participants have been overwhelmingly positive.”

The School of Nursing has created nearly 30 interactive online clinical simulations since the program began in 2003, each one adjusted for three specific levels of learner: the registered nurse, the licensed practical nurse and the nursing assistant.

Program director Palmer hopes to develop a virtual Center for Geriatric Clinical Simulations within the next two years, to disseminate the simulations to nurses throughout the state and beyond. She is working with the School of Nursing Continuing Education Department to administer American Nurses’ Credentialing Center contact hour credits for nurses who complete the online simulations.

“In the end, it’s about providing better care for our nation’s older adults.  We’re starting in North Carolina, but we believe this program has the potential to expand nationwide,” Palmer said.

For more information on the School of Nursing’s human patient simulator, click on: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb02/stan020702.htm and
http://www.unc.edu/news/media/2006/nursingstudents062206.htm

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Note: Palmer can be reached by email at mhpalmer@email.unc.edu

School of Nursing contact: Amanda P. Meyers, (919) 966-1412 or amanda_meyers@unc.edu
News Services contact: Becky Oskin, (919) 962-8596 or becky_oskin@unc.edu