Independence Blue Cross Foundation Presents Inaugural Excellence in Geriatric Education & Practice Awards at NLN ACES Workshop
Washington, DC (PRWEB) June 28, 2014 -- Nurse educators at six schools of nursing within five counties of southeastern Pennsylvania and clinical nursing staff at an affiliated agency took home the first awards for geriatric education and practice from the IBC Foundation of Philadelphia. The awards program was inaugurated in 2013 with a foundation grant to the NLN to expand the Advancing Care Excellence for Seniors program to practice environments in the designated geographic region.
“The NLN is delighted to formally acknowledge exciting strides made in geriatric nursing education through these award-winning academic and practice settings. Our thanks go to the talented nurse educators and clinicians who have used imagination and vision, working with ACES to instill the knowledge and skills necessary to deliver outstanding care to ever-increasing numbers of frail and chronically ill elderly,” said NLN CEO Beverly Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN.
Added Marsha Howell Adams, PhD, RN, CNE, ANEF, the president of the NLN and professor and senior associate dean for academic programs at the University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa’s Capstone College of Nursing: “We are indebted to the IBC Foundation for the expansion of ACES and providing a vehicle to publicly recognize the impact that is having on promoting excellence in geriatric nursing education.”
The IBC Foundation awards program highlights how the ACES curriculum has been incorporated in novel and innovative ways in teaching the care of elderly adults in both acute and non-acute, community clinical settings. To be eligible for the award, more than 400 Pennsylvania nurse educators and clinical nursing staff participated during the past year in three new ACES workshops and two new webinars programmed by the NLN in partnership with Community College of Philadelphia.
The Excellence in Geriatric Education and Practice Awards were given at a luncheon ceremony during the IBC Foundation-supported workshop: “Use of Technology to Advance Care Excellence for Seniors” on June 11. Lorina Marshall-Blake, IBC Foundation president, assisted by members of the foundation board of directors, did the honors.
“We thank the National League for Nursing for honoring the IBC Foundation with this award in our name and congratulate the winners who have gained so much from the ACES program and benefitted so many others with their knowledge and skills,” said Lorina Marshall-Blake, president of the Independence Blue Cross Foundation. “We are proud of our long-time partnership with the NLN and commend them for all they do to advance nursing education in our nation.”
Honorees spanned the gamut of higher education, from LPNs and hospital certificate programs to doctoral degree-granting universities, and included one practice partner. They are:
• Chester County Intermediate Unit Practical Nurses Program
• LaSalle University
• Montgomery County Community College
• Northeastern Hospital School of Nursing
• Villanova University College of Nursing
• Watermark at Logan Square, a continuing care retirement community
• West Chester University
While nurses play a critical role in managing the complex care required for older adults, about 130,000 new registered nurses each year complete associate or bachelor degree programs lacking adequate instruction in geriatric nursing. ACES was conceived to improve the quality of care for older adults and their caregivers; its resources are available free of charge at http://www.nln.org/aces.
For more information about ACES, please contact NLN chief program officer Elaine Tagliareni at 202-909-2481.
Dedicated to excellence in nursing, the National League for Nursing is the premier organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education. The NLN offers faculty development, networking opportunities, testing services, nursing research grants, and public policy initiatives to its more than 40,000 individual and more than 1,200 institutional members, comprising nursing education programs across the spectrum of higher education and health care organizations.
Karen Klestzick, National League for Nursing, http://www.nln.org, +1 202-909-2483, [email protected]
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