News release
Public Information Office
SLU 10880 Hammond,
LA 70402 phone:
985-549-2341 fax:
985-549-2061publicinfo@selu.edu
www.selu.edu/news
Contact: Angey Saucier
Date: 12/13/02
| SOUTHEASTERN NURSING HONORED NATIONALLY AS MODEL
PROGRAM
HAMMOND – The Southeastern Louisiana University School of Nursing has been selected for honorable mention in a national competition that recognizes excellence in geriatric nursing. Now in its fifth year, the John A. Hartford Foundation Institute for Geriatric Nursing/American Association of Colleges of Nursing Award for Exceptional Curriculum in Gerontologic Nursing recognizes model baccalaureate programs in nursing. "Southeastern's baccalaureate nursing program serves as a model for exceptional, substantive and innovative curriculum in gerontology," said Amy Berman, director of nursing education initiatives at the John A. Hartford Foundation Institute for Geriatric Nursing. Southeastern's curriculum will be featured in the institute's booklet, "Baccalaureate Models of Excellence." "With the current emphasis on moving health care to the community, it is important that students gain experience with older adults in their communities," said Donnie Booth, dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences. "We therefore thread adult care throughout Southeastern's nursing program at all levels." Southeastern's current free-standing gerontological nursing course emphasizes the healthy aging process as well as health promotion and prevention for well and frail older adults, Booth said. In the clinical lab course, students learn hands-on by working with older people in community activities. "Southeastern's nursing curriculum expands content learning from courses such as developmental psychology, nutrition, pharmacology, and elective courses, such as ‘death and dying' into its nursing courses," said Barbara Moffett, head of Southeastern's nursing program. "In clinical lab, students use community activities in clinical settings, such as the National Senior Games and the Louisiana Senior Olympics, home health and assisted living facility visits that teach them how to work effectively with older people." In the past year, Southeastern nursing students have worked at regional fairs, festivals, dairy days, spring garden shows, women's group meeting, Councils on Aging and other community day programs with health promoting activities. Among services offered to the public in southeast Louisiana are free health fairs, nutrition lectures, no-cost mammograms, cholesterol screenings, and blood pressure and blood sugar checks. The award marks the second major recognition of Southeastern's nursing program this year. Earlier this year, the Louisiana State Nurses Association Foundation cited Southeastern as the state's Nursing Program of the Year. The nursing program has 1,340 undergraduate students and 52 students pursuing graduate degrees. The Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing, housed at the Division of Nursing, in the Steinhardt School of Education of New York University, seeks to shape the quality of health care older Americans receive by promoting the highest level of geriatric competence in all nurses. The institute identifies and develops best practices in nursing care of older adults and works to infuse these practices into the education and work of professional nurses and nursing students. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is the voice for 560 university and four-year college education programs in nursing nationwide. AACN's educational, research, governmental advocacy, data collection, publications, and other programs work to establish quality standards for bachelor's- and graduate-degree nursing education. |
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