Resources for Nurse Educators: Health of the Older Adult

The baby boomer generation, those born between 1946 and 1964, is the largest demographic group in u.S. History. Boomers, 76 million strong, comprise one quarter of the total u.S. Population. The oldest members of this massive cohort are about to enter their senior years. This first wave, consisting of approximately 2.7 million people, will turn 65 in 2011. As the boomers age, america as a whole is graying. The senior population itself is growing older as well. The gathering momentum of this silver tsunami will create a demographic, social, and economic shift of epic proportions. The elderly (people age 65 or older), who currently comprise 13 percent of the population, will make up 20 percent of the u.S. Population by the year 2030. This is comparable to the current proportion of the elderly citizens in florida.

It is critical for nurse educators to adequately prepare nursing students for this silver demographic tsunami. I highly recommend the following fabulous free educational resources for teaching gerontology:

Improving the quality of long-term care

The forgetting: A portrait of Alzheimer's

Hartford Institute on geriatric nursing

How to try this assessment series

How to try this videos

Evidence-based geriatric protocols and topics

Dementia focus: the person behind the disease

Family caregivers: considerations, assessment, and support

Immobility and functional decline: avoiding the spiral

A new look at the old— incontinence and elders

Malnourished or at risk: nutrition and the elderly

Critical indicators - presentation of illness in older adults

Helping families to assess pain in the cognitively impaired elder

HIV/AIDs in older adults: a case report and literature review