Response To Shana Jones

Response to Colleagues (Gerontological Nursing)

[Name of Writer]

[Name of Institution]

Dear Shana

Your post very comprehensively tackles the issue of statistically few nurses opting for gerontology as their major during nursing practice. Much of this reluctance has been associated with the attitude of nursing students towards older patients. CITATION Mar15 \l 1033 (Margarida Abreu, 2015) It is understandable that studies show nursing students to be uncertain when choosing gerontology since the job is repetitive, emotionally taxing and often unfruitful to a certain extent. It is exciting to see these reasons for hesitation in choosing gerontology being explained comprehensively and effortlessly in your post. It is clearly evident that you are fluent in what you do and confident of what you know about your job.

However, a small anecdote to respectfully add here is the issue of burnout among gerontological nurses. Burnout is common in those nursing jobs that demand long-term care or have great risks of emotional exhaustion.CITATION Eri15 \l 1033 (Erin L. Woodhead, 2015) Gerontology is a strong contender for it. Therefore, when listing the reasons for fewer students in gerontological nursing and analyzing solutions, burnout among professionals should be considered seriously.

Your post also comes loaded with ideas on how to tackle this problem through incentives. This is, once again, remarkable. I can add a few ideas to wage incentives, forgiveness of loans and solving staffing problems. One of these is training nurse practitioners with a primary care training for gerontology so they can offer outpatient care. CITATION Ada15 \l 1033 (Adam G. Golden, 2015) Another incentive that can prove to be quite successful in convincing nursing students to choose gerontology can be facilitated learning. CITATION Kat15 \l 1033 (Kathleen Krichbaum, 2015) This involves seminars and mentorship models. One of the motives could be inculcating empathy in young nursing students and reducing inherent anxiety towards ageing.

In a time when the number of older people in need for constant medical care continues to rise, it is vital that relevant authorities invest in these incentives so the available number of gerontological nurses can meet the demand.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY Adam G. Golden, M. A. (2015). Addressing the Shortage of Geriatricians: What Medical Educators Can Learn From the Nurse Practitioner Training Model. Academic Medicine, 1236-1240.

Erin L. Woodhead, L. N. (2015). Stress, Social Support, and Burnout Among Long-Term Care Nursing Staff. Journal of Applied Gerontology , 84-105.

Kathleen Krichbaum, M. J. (2015). Facilitated Learning to Advance Geriatrics: Increasing the Capacity of Nurse Faculty to Teach Students About Caring for Older Adults. The Gerontologist , s154-s164.

Margarida Abreu, N. C. (2015). Attitudes toward Aging in Portuguese Nursing Students. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 961-967.