State of the Science Invitational Conference: Quality Health CareNorma Lang, PhD, RN, FAAN

Astate of the science invitational con-ference on quality health care, titled

“Measuring and Improving Health CareQuality, Towards Meaningful SolutionsTo Pressing Problems, Nursing’s Contri-bution to the State of the Science,” will beheld April 18-20, 2002, in Philadelphia atthe Annenberg Center for Public Policy,University of Pennsylvania. This confer-ence stems from the work of the AmericanAcademy of Nursing (AAN) Expert Panelon Quality Health Care and is responsiveto the recent reports published by theInstitute of Medicine and others regard-ing the quality of health care in America.This conference had its genesis in June1996 during the AAN Expert Panel onQuality’s conference, titled “OutcomeMeasures and Care Delivery Systems.”Ideas were advanced further at subse-quent AAN annual meetings and mostrecently in November 2001.

This conference is led by the Univer-sity of Pennsylvania School of Nursingand the Annenberg Center for Public Pol-

icy and is cosponsored by the AAN, theAmerican Nurses Association, the Agencyfor Healthcare Research and Quality, andthe National Institute for Nursing Re-search. The conference leaders are NormaLang and Pam Mitchell. The SteeringCommittee also includes Ada Sue Hin-shaw; Bonnie Jennings; Gerri Lamb; Bar-bara Mark; Patricia Moritz; Julie Sochal-ski; and 2 postdoctoral research fellows,Beth Ann Swan and Doris Vahey.

The conference will begin with a2-hour provocative panel discussion andaudience participation chaired by Kath-leen Hall Jamieson, dean of the Annen-berg School of Communications and di-rector of the Annenberg Public PolicyCenter. From the 3 perspectives of pay-ers/insurers, health professionals/provid-ers, and recipients/consumers, the distin-guished panel members will be asked toanswer the following questions: What arethe 3 main reforms needed to improvequality? Is each reform based in research?What are the strengths and weaknesses of

each reform? Do we need to rethink theagenda for quality health care? The Leo-nard Davis Institute cosponsors this ses-sion of the conference for Health Eco-nomics, University of Pennsylvania.

Forty authors have agreed to prepare22 papers. The conference will be devotedto the presentation of key points of theworking papers and discussion among allexpert interdisciplinary participants onwhat is known about nursing’s contribu-tion to quality health care, strategies formeasurement, available data sets,strengths and weaknesses of methodolo-gies and technologies, and recommenda-tions for further development and action.The papers and an annotated bibliogra-phy of the conference will be published.Executive summaries will be given to avariety of planners, providers, and users ofhealth care services and, when applicable,recommendations will be made to appro-priate agencies and groups. This event isjust another exemplar of the Academy inaction. �

Geriatric Nursing Initiative Secures Significant Funding

Seven schools of nursing will togetherreceive $2.2 million from the John A.

Hartford Foundation to help build geri-atric nursing education capacity. These 7schools, as well as 5 centers of geriatricnursing excellence, are participants of theBuilding Academic Geriatric NursingCapacity Program.

Each school of nursing will receive$75,000 per year for 3 years, which will bematched in each of those years with uni-versity funding of $25,000. With this3-year total of $300,000, each school willenhance its course offerings and trainingin geriatric nursing.

The 7 recipients are:

● University of Michigan School ofNursing (Ann Arbor)

● University of Rochester School ofNursing (Rochester, New York)

● University of Washington School ofNursing (Seattle)

● University of North Carolina ChapelHill School of Nursing (Chapel Hill)

● University of Texas School of Nursing(Houston)

● University of Minnesota School ofNursing (Minneapolis)

● Case Western Reserve University Fran-cis Payne Bolton School of Nursing(Cleveland, Ohio)These 7 schools of nursing have al-

ready built a foundation in geriatric nurs-ing programs, curriculum innovations,university collaborations in geriatrics, andfaculty leadership locally and nationally.Four of the 7 are in the top 10 programslisted by US News and World Report in itsgraduate nurse practitioner master’s pro-gram report, and several have been listedamong the top schools of nursing in thecountry.

Building Academic Geriatric NursingCapacity was initiated in 2000 to compre-hensively address a variety of needs inbuilding geriatric nursing capacity. The5-year program is supported and fundedby the John A. Hartford Foundation. Co-

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NURSING OUTLOOK MARCH/APRIL 2002 79

ordinated by AAN, the program is de-signed to develop geriatric nursing leadersthrough its centers of geriatric nursingexcellence, its scholars program, andother leadership building initiatives. The

program is directed by Claire M. Fagin,PhD, RN, FAAN, former dean of theUniversity of Pennsylvania School ofNursing and an American Academy ofNursing Living Legend.

“Funding to these additional 7 uni-versities helps bring even more energyto our effort to develop nursing exper-tise in this important area of care,” saidFagin. �

New Initiative on Geriatric Nursing Education Issues Formal Report Outlining Goals and Strategies

L eaders in the academic nursing com-munity have issued a formal report

on goals and strategies to advance gradu-ate level nursing education in gerontol-ogy. The report outlines many recom-mendations regarding the development ofcurriculum, creation of national stan-dards in graduate level geriatric nursing,and the development of a national repos-itory of knowledge in the field. The finalreport, “Caring for Older Americans—Recommendations for Building a Na-tional Program for Graduate Nursing Ed-ucation in Gerontology,” is availableonline at www.geriatricnursing.org.

“With an aging population and a no-table nursing shortage, building andstrengthening gerontological nursing asan area of expertise and practice is impor-tant if we are to address obvious gaps in

health care capacity,” said Claire M. Fa-gin, PhD, RN, FAAN, director of theBuilding Academic Geriatric NursingCapacity program.

According to a study presented to theexpert panel convened to develop this re-port, only 4200 nurses (out of an esti-mated 70,000 to 80,000 advanced prac-tice nurses) have been certified by theAmerican Nurses Credentialing Center asadvanced practice gerontologic nursessince 1991. Those 4200 nurses include3400 geriatric nurse practitioners and800 gerontologic clinical nursing special-ists.

“This report also articulates objectivesand strategies to achieve the goal of in-creasing the numbers of gerontologicalnurse practitioners. There is clearly anurgent need, and this report spells out

how we aim to grow the numbers in thisfield,” said Fagin.

Developing and issuing this report isone component of the multifaceted pro-gram “Building Academic GeriatricNursing Capacity,” which was initiated in2000 to comprehensively address a vari-ety of needs in building geriatric nursingcapacity. The 5-year program is sup-ported and funded by the John A. Hart-ford Foundation. Coordinated by AAN,the program is designed to develop geri-atric nursing leaders through its centers ofgeriatric nursing excellence, its scholarsprogram, and other leadership buildinginitiatives. The program is directed byFagin, former dean of the University ofPennsylvania School of Nursing and anAmerican Academy of Nursing LivingLegend. �

AAN Development Committee

Phase 1 of the Academy’s fundraisingcampaign has been very successful.

The goal for the first year of the campaignwas to raise $100,000 from current fel-lows. These funds were targeted for sup-port of the programmatic initiatives of theAcademy, such as the scholars program,workforce project development, and lead-ership development. The campaign waslaunched at the 2000 annual meeting of

the Academy. In the first year, we success-fully achieved the goal, raising more than$100,000. The second year of the cam-paign will be focused on increasing thepercentage of participation among fellowsand raising an additional $110,000 forthe programmatic initiatives. At the 2001annual meeting, a special session was heldthat focused on planned giving, whichwill be a part of the 2002 fundraising

efforts. If fellows are interested in being astate representative to the DevelopmentCommittee, please contact the chair. De-velopment Committee members includeJoyce Fitzpatrick, Chair; Phyllis Ethridge;Vernice Ferguson; Margaret McClure;Nola Pender; Roy Simpson; Ann Whall;and Mary Woody. Also, in 2002 we willbe launching a state-by-state fund-raisingeffort. �

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80 VOLUME 50 • NUMBER 2 NURSING OUTLOOK