Abstract:

Background:
Teachers in the bachelor program nursing could have an impact on the shortage of geriatric nurses by influencing the students choice for working with frail elderly. Positive communications of all nursing teachers may not only have a positive effect on the attitude of students towards the care of older adults(1), it may also help them to make a deliberate choice in this direction(2).

Relevance:
Based on low attendance at training initiatives, nursing teachers can be assumed to have little interest in geriatric care .

Aim:
With our innovative awareness tool, we want teachers to discover the challenges of this nursing field and hereby enlarge the awareness of their own attitude and functioning with regard to geriatric care.

Participants:
All four university colleges of the Associatie KULeuven, Belgium collaborate on the development of this project.

Methods:
The digital tool guides the participant through the life of an older women in her home environment, portrayed by herself, her children and the general practitioner. The participant is faced with potential nursing problems and the wishes of this person. He is invited to reflect by means of questions throughout the story. Comments can be shared with fellow users via built-in social media.
The choice for a real person (3), the use of film fragments (4), learning by reflecting individually and from other users reactions (5) are evidence based principles integrated in the tool. The different film fragments can be used as didactic material which may be an additional motivation to use the tool (6).

Evaluation:
An initial evaluation is scheduled for May 2015. Fifty nursing teachers will use the tool and judge it by means of an online questionnaire. The user experience and the usability of the tool will be questioned as well as possible influencing factors such as the digital literacy and the professional experience in geriatric care. Based on this feedback, the tool will be adjusted and finished. Early 2016 this instrument will be introduced to all the nursing teachers of the Associatie KULeuven and re-evaluated.

Conclusion:
Our aim is to present in two years a final product of Geraware that meets the objectives.

References:
[1] Holroyd A, Dahlke S, Fehr C, Jung P, Hunter A. Attitudes toward aging: implications for a caring profession. Journal of Nursing Education. 2009;48(7):374–80.
[2] Liu Y, Norman IJ, While AE. Nurses’ attitudes towards older people: A systematic review. International Journal of Nursing Studies. 2013;50(9):1271–82.
[3] Tumosa N, Morley JE. The use of games to improve patient outcomes. Gerontology & Geriatrics Education. 2006;26(4):37–45.
[4] McCleary R. Using Film and Intergenerational Colearning to Enhance Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Older Adults. Educational Gerontology. 2014;40(6).
[5] Hunzicker J. Effective professional development for teachers: a checklist. Professional Development in Education. 2010;37(2):177–9.
[6] Elliot DL, Campbell T. “Really on the ball”: exploring the implications of teachers’ PE-CPD experience. Sport, Education and Society. 2013;1–17.

Keywords:

Health care, geriatric, individual learning, authoring tool.