NEXus/Hartford: A Consortium Model to Expand Gerontology Education & Research
Issues of equity and access of students, faculty and institutions to educational programs in nursing and the promotion of research partnerships have been successfully addressed in the NEXus approach to collaboration for doctoral programs in nursing. Given the budgetary constraints in higher education addressed in the previous paper, the purpose of this paper is to discuss the potential impact of two national initiatives, NEXus with a focus on education in nursing doctoral programs and the National Hartford Centers with a focus in Geronotology as they come together to address budgetary constraints and the expansion of education through the NEXus consortium to include care of older adults. Challenges and opportunities for expansion of gerontological education specifically within the NEXus consortium framework will be presented
Rationale/Background:
This paper will focus on the rationale for using the established successful consortium of NEXus as one mechanism for building a united front among doctoral programs in Nursing. This collaboration provides opportunity to expand opportunities to meet learning needs of students with a gerontological specialty. Approached by the National Hartford Centers for Gerontological Nursing Education, NEXus worked with the Centers to develop a viable approach for collaborating in a way that would meet the goals of both national initiatives.
Description:
Building on the principles of cooperation and collaboration utilized through a variety of mechanisms such as Memoranda of Agreement, institutional commitment to education and scholarship, core values such as mutual trust and respect among colleagues and attention to sustainability, NEXus is an attractive model for addressing national gerontological initiatives. This paper examines how issues related to equity and access for students can be enhanced through merged efforts in care of older adults and potentially other populations of interest. Documentation of success through NEXus in expansion of available courses, institutional commitment and national impact will be discussed as an example of the potential outcome of the focus in gerontology.
Conclusions:
Although the collaborative initiative is in its infancy, the potential impact for increasing equity and impact for accessibility to doctoral courses in private and public institutions has potential for making a major impact in the current healthcare environment and is consistent with the IOM recommendations for nursing.