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Madison, Wis. (August 22, 2011) –Edgewood College faculty members Katie Selle and Barbara Gallogly recently returned from Faculty Learning About Geriatrics (FLAG) summer institute at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities Campus. They were joined there by colleagues from more than twenty schools, universities and tribal colleges from across the country. The year-long program offered by the Minnesota – Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence enhances the geriatric nursing knowledge and resources of nursing faculty in order to better prepare the nursing workforce to care for our rapidly growing elderly population. Colleen Gullickson, Professor in the School of Nursing and Director of the Undergraduate Nursing Program at Edgewood College, will serve as a mentor to the FLAG fellows. In addition, she’ll serve as a mentor to three nursing faculty at UW-Madison. Geriatric care is an area of expertise and special focus for Dr. Gullickson.
According to a 2008 report from the Institute of Medicine, the number of older patients with complex health needs will outpace the number of health care providers with the knowledge and skill to care for them. This program is designed to help ease the projected health care worker shortage and enhance care for aging baby boomers by helping faculty prepare skilled geriatric nurses.
“This program serves as a model for how to strengthen geriatric nursing education in schools throughout the country,” said Jean Wyman, PhD, RN, FAAN, director of the Hartford Center at the University of Minnesota. “It will have significant impact on the care of older adults through the large numbers of students reached by the courses taught by the FLAG Fellows.”
This FLAG program is sponsored by the John A. Hartford Foundation, through its support of the MN Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing, and the University of Minnesota School of Nursing.
