ARTICLE 1
Butterfly003
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Weekly Article Summary 1
First name, middle initial, last name
St. Thomas University
NUR 416: Nursing Research and Evidence Based Practice
Dr. Guelsy Diaz
January 12, 2021
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Weekly Article Summary 1
The article Improving Rural Geriatric Care Through Education: A Scalable, Collaborative
Project by Harleah Buck, Ann Kolanowski, Donna Fick, and Lawrence Baronner focuses on rural-
based geriatric care and its effectiveness in the marginalized areas. The main focus of this article is
on improving rural geriatric care through education (iRuGCE), which was created to improve the
quality of care to the eldery by improving the practice of geriatric nursing.
The mental health and physical wellbeing of the elderly members of the society,
especially in the rural areas is of utmost importance, and therefore there is a need to provide
social services and support to them (Wedgeworth et al., 2017). The aim of the project as stated in
the article was to identify, facilitate, and mentor geriatric nursing site in specific hospitals in
rural areas, such as Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), to offer certification programs to nurses
interested in geriatric care and to provide educational services necessary for the needs of the
CAHs. The evaluation conducted in the research proved to be quite bright and promising. The
preliminary result on the other hand indicated that the project had a positive impact on patient
satisfaction, nurse’s competence and confidence rate, effective communication, medical care,
management of pain, and staff effectiveness (Buck et al., 2016).
In conclusion, from the arguments above, it is evident that care of the elderly in rural
areas should be considered by the department of geriatric care and the concern of the public met.
The article also provides systematic findings that shows the gap in the field of geriatric nursing
as well as the problems affecting the provincial of elder care services in the rural area. Therefore,
according to the findings the only way to cater to the elderly, especially those located in the rural
areas, is by providing and increasing the scope of education for practitioners in the field of
geriatric nursing. Furthermore, the results indicate the initiative including educational programs
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to improve geriatric nursing will improve the quality of services offered by geriatric nurses, the
interaction between nurses and patients will boost the morale of staff members, thereby ensuring
proper medical care is given to the elerly patients.
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References
Buck, H. G., Kolanowski, A., Fick, D., & Baronner, L. (2016). Improving rural geriatric care
through education: A scalable, collaborative project. The Journal of Continuing
Education in Nursing, 47(7), 306-313.
Wedgeworth, M., LaRocca, M. A., Chaplin, W. F., & Scogin, F. (2017). The role of
interpersonal sensitivity, social support, and quality of life in rural older
adults. Geriatric Nursing, 38(1), 22-26.