Developing a dedicated education unit in long-term care: a pilot project.
Within long-term care, the transitional care setting provides post-acute and short-stay rehabilitation to older adults, easing the transition between the acute care hospital and home or long-term care. The current nursing shortage makes it difficult for these facilities to attract and retain qualified nursing staff. In order to meet the rehabilitation needs for this patient population while at the same time addressing the challenge in nursing education of limited clinical placements and severe nurse faculty shortages, an academic-practice partnership was developed to establish a Dedicated Education Unit (DEU). The DEU is an innovative clinical education model in which experienced staff nurses serve as clinical teachers to nursing students. This paper describes the process of developing a DEU using the Partners in Caring Model as the framework. Formative and summative evaluation results and recommendations for program improvement of this pilot project are discussed.
College of Health Sciences, School of Nursing, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA 01854-3058, USA. Electronic address: Karen_Melillo@uml.edu.
Karen
K
Devereaux Melillo
College of Health Sciences, School of Nursing, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA 01854-3058, USA.
Lisa
L
Abdallah
College of Health Sciences, School of Nursing, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA 01854-3058, USA.
Lea
L
Dodge
College of Health Sciences, School of Nursing, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA 01854-3058, USA.
Jacqueline S
JS
Dowling
D'Youville Life and Wellness Community, Lowell, MA, USA.
Naomi
N
Prendergast
D'Youville Life and Wellness Community, Lowell, MA, USA.
Andrea
A
Rathbone
Framingham State University, Framingham, MA, USA.
Ruth
R
Remington
University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
Juliette
J
Shellman
D'Youville Center for Advanced Therapy, D'Youville Life and Wellness Community, Lowell, MA, USA.
Cynthia
C
Thornton
D000368:Aged; D003479:Curriculum; D004509:Education, Nursing, Continuing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008404:Massachusetts; D010865:Pilot Projects
Clinical education; Dedicated education unit; Gerontological nursing; Long-term care; Transitional care unit