Peer-Reviewed Web-Based Gerontological
Resources for Nursing Faculty
Tiffany L. Allen, BS & Layla Garrigues, BSN, BS, RN & Michelle A. Hall, MS, RN-BC
Juliana C. Cartwright, PhD, RN
Faculty members are expected to integrate content about older adults into undergraduate curricula. Although numerous
gerontological education resources exist on the Internet, educators often lack awareness of these resources or the time to
explore them. We describe a project that used a peer-review process to organize resources into a searchable, online catalog
that includes suggestions for using the content in different courses (http://www.ohsu.edu/son/ecleps). Implications are
discussed for developing and maintaining the interactive catalog of Web-based instructional resources.
T
he purpose of this article is to describe an online
catalog of evidence-based, gerontological resources
that includes suggestions for teaching applications
for educators. We also describe the process used to develop
and maintain the catalog.
According to the World Health Organization,
1
there
will be as many as 2 billion older adults (aged Q65 years)
worldwide by the year 2050. Most of the people receiving
nursing care in the United States are older than 65 years, have
1 or more chronic conditions, and may need assistance with
activities of daily living.
2,3
Nurses require specific knowledge
and skills to care for this fragile and complex population.
4
Faculty recognize the need to prepare students to care for the
complex needs of older adults, yet many feel ill prepared to
do so.
4,5
In response, professional nursing organizations have
provided workshops that prepare faculty to teach geronto-
logical content.
6,7
In addition, although numerous evidence-
based gerontological practice and teaching resources are
available on the Internet,
5-9
many faculty lack either aware-
ness of the resources or the time to explore them.
Enriching Clinical Experiences Through
Partnerships Project
Enriching Clinical Experiences Through Partnerships in Long-
term Care (ECLEPs; funded by the Northwest Health Foun-
dation and HRSA grant D62HP06855) is a project designed to
develop academic-clinical partnerships for student learning
and person-directed care of older adults. Through intention-
ally planned partnerships, undergraduate faculty and staff
in long-term and community-based care settings collaborate
in developing high-quality learning and care experiences.
10
Because multiple nursing schools and clinical agencies par-
ticipate in ECLEPs, a project Web site is used to share and
disseminate information and resources among partners.
11
A
catalog, the Gerontological Nursing Webliography (GNW),
was developed to enable faculty to easily locate exemplary
gerontological resources that may be appropriate for use in
a range of nursing courses that address care of older adults.
Each catalog resource is peer reviewed and summarized by
pedagogic criteria that faculty find useful including, for each
resource, the site author, a description of the content and
purpose, information on instructional formats (eg, interac-
tive content), and suggestions for use of the site by topic (eg,
Alzheimer’s disease pathology), course (eg, chronic illness
care), and care setting (eg, community health, critical care).
Methods
Peer Reviewers
Two faculty members, a doctoral student, and a baccalau-
reate nursing student comprised the team that reviewed and
cataloged the online resources. The faculty are both experts
in gerontological nursing and together have more than
50 years of practice and teaching experience with older adults
in a range of settings. Doctoral studies for 1 of the faculty
focused on gerontological nursing practice. The other faculty
is board certified in gerontological nursing and completing a
doctoral degree with an emphasis in online instruction. The
doctoral student has 4 years of home healthcare experience
with older adults and is focusing on gerontological nursing in
her program of study. The baccalaureate student has been
project manager and research assistant on 8 studies focused
on older adults.
62 Volume 39 & Number 2 & March/April 2014 Nurse Educator
Nurse Educator Nurse Educator
Nurse Educator
Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 62-64
Copyright * 2014 Wolters Kluwer Health |
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Author Affiliations: Senior Research Assistant (Ms Allen), Graduate Stu-
dent (Ms Garrigues), Instructor (Ms Hall), Associate Professor (Dr Cartwright),
School of Nursing, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland.
This project was supported by a Comprehensive Geriatric Education
Program Training Grant (D62HP06855) from the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Admin-
istration and the Northwest Health Foundation.
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Correspondence: Ms Allen, School of Nursing, Oregon Health and Science
University, 1250 Siskiyou Blvd, Ashland, OR 97520 (allentif@ohsu.edu).
Supplemental digital content is available for this article. Direct URL citations
appear in the printed text and are provided in the HTML and PDF versions
of this article on the journal’s Web site (www.nurseeducatoronline.com).
DOI: 10.1097/NNE.0000000000000019
Copyright © 2014 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.