RGPc Education and Best Practice Database

The Regional Geriatric Program central has launched a new Education and Best Practice database.

They have taken all of the resources and educational materials that were posted across their website and brought them together in a new easy to use online, searchable database, including:
Best Practice guidelines, assessment tools and resources on the geriatric giants

• LTC Best Practice resources, including the Best Practice Blogger newsletter
• Presentations by geriatric experts
• Monthly RGPc Breaking News e-newsletter

Visit www.rgpc.ca and click on “Resources” in the left navigation bar. Search by keyword or subject area. You can also quickly check out the newest resources added to the database from the “New Resources” window on our homepage.

If you have educational tools or resources to add to the database, send an email to sagel@hhsc.ca.

Enhancing Informal Adult Learning for Older People in Care Settings

“Enhancing informal adult learning for older people in care settings” is putting into practice the commitments of The Learning Revolution White Paper, which reported that ‘learning can improve the health and quality of life for older people in care, but too often it’s missing’.

Funded by the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the report draws on feedback from organizations and individuals and highlights 10 examples of existing practice, setting out the challenges in providing more learning opportunities for older people in care settings.

An on-line forum has been created on the Learning Revolution discussion-site to capture thoughts and ideas. These contributions will be included in the production of a toolkit of best practice to be published next year. To contribute, visit http://thelearningrevolution.ning.com/group/olderpeople

Visit the website of the project to read more about the project; to view a video of Tansley House Care Home, an example of a learning program in a care home, and to read some comments about the effectiveness of this program: http://www.niace.org.uk/niace-project-helps-older-people-in-care

Investing in California's Direct Care Workforce by Increasing Geriatric Training Opportunities

Newly released by the SCAN Foundation (August 2009), this document contains a set of issue papers from experts across the US which focus on the role of direct care workers and opportunities for enhancing their skills. While the paper focuses on California, it will be of interest to anyone involved in geriatric education.

Issue papers include:

Direct Care Workers: Essential to Quality Nursing Home and Home Health Care
Effective Strategies and Exemplary Ongoing Training Programs for Direct Care Workers
Supporting Training for Direct Care Staff

http://www.thescanfoundation.org/documents/reports/Investing%20in%20California.pdf

Geriatric Nursing Education Wiki

The purpose of this Wiki is to share resources and tools to improve gerontological and geriatric nursing education. (A wiki is a website that allows the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked Web pages. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites, to power community websites, for personal note taking, in corporate intranets, and in knowledge management systems)

The Wiki was created as a result of the Knowledge Exchange Institute for Geriatric Nursing Education, held at Brock University May 6-8, 2009. Sponsored by the National Initiative for Care of the Elderly (NICE), and the Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR), the Knowledge Exchange Institute was created as part of NICE's work to enhance gerontological nursing education.

Wiki categories include:

• Web-based Resources for Teaching
• Research Based Education Resources to Purchase
• Teaching Strategies to Share
• Mass Media Resources for Teaching
• Images of Aging
• How to Incorporate Guidelines and New Research Evidence in Teaching
• Curriculum Resources
• Core Competency Recommendations

https://kumu.brocku.ca/geriatricnursingeducation/Main_Page

Closing the Knowledge Gap: Toward the Creation of a Health Education Model for Professionals

Despite the widespread availability and free flow of digital information, the adoption of new knowledge may be hindered by disciplinary, professional and time barriers, particularly in the field of gerontology and geriatrics.

The content of this report is based on a scientific consensus conference held in 2008 and 2009 organized by the International Longevity Center (supported by Pfizer, Inc), and chaired by Robert Butler (renowned expert in geriatrics).

The conference was organized to address the questions and circumstances that affect the transfer and dissemination of health care information for older people.

Specific issues and solutions addressed in the report include:

• lack of education and training in geriatrics for all health care providers
• suggestions for improving geriatrics knowledge transfer
  
• innovation and education in geriatrics
• barriers and approaches to bridging the knowledge gap (establishing competencies, policy and social approaches)

http://www.ilcusa.org/pages/publications/ageism-sleep/closing-the-knowledge-gap.php

Supporting Learning in the Workplace

This publication from NHS Education for Scotland (NES) aims to support a learning culture by providing these generic guiding principles for individuals and groups supporting learning in the workplace.

The guidance was developed by representatives from professions and staff groups across NES and was based on experience combined with evidence and learning resources already in existence. Information is included on the rationale and drivers for the guidance.

The guiding principles are appropriate to all healthcare professions and care was taken to ensure that they link with the relevant NHS Knowledge and Skills core and specific domains.

There are six guiding principles each of which has supporting statements to assist with interpretation and contextualisation and examples of useful resources, and it is emphasised that the principles need to be interpreted by individuals and organisations in their own context. An example case study illustrates the implementation of the principles. NES published this guidance in December 2008.

http://www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/documents/publications/classa/181208_supporting_learning_blues.pdf

Education and Practice Preparation for Nursing Students Learning to Work With Older People

‘An ageing population: Education and practice preparation for nursing students learning to work with older people’ was published by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in February 2008.

This resource pack was developed by Age Concern England (ACE) and the RCN with the aim of promoting the need for leadership, effective mentoring, best practice and positive images of nursing older people. The pack contains ideas and resources which can be used by nursing students. Links to useful organisations and government websites are also included.

http://www.rcn.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/149739/003222.pdf