Implementing the Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Competencies

The Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner (AGPCNP) Program at the University utilizes an integrated approach and three stand-alone gerontological courses to meet AACN competencies. The main purpose is to ensure that new graduates are best prepared to be proficient practitioners keeping congruent with the APRN Consensus Model. The curriculum includes 12 courses: four theory and four clinical courses, research, advanced health assessment, advanced physiology/pathophysiology, and advanced pharmacology. The frail older adult content has been effectively distributed across three gerontology courses during the third semester. For example, Nursing 648: Primary Care: Complex Diagnosis & Management of Adults across the Lifespan focuses on mental and physical health problems and administrative issues pertaining to frail adults residing in the community and long-term care settings. Nursing 649: Primary Care Clinical Practicum: Complex Diagnosis and Management of Adults across the Lifespan, facilitates synthesis of knowledge and skills in caring for an older, frail population in the community and long term care system. Nursing 644: Health Care in an Aging Society emphasizes the exploration of significant issues in gerontology and adult-gerontological nursing to guide advanced practice in existing and future health care systems. In addition, students complete a minimum of 736 clinical hours dispersed throughout various clinical courses. In each of the four clinical courses, students are assigned two clinical sites in primary care. One site (approximately eight hours per week) is with young, middle-aged, and older adults in ambulatory settings. The second site (approximately eight hours per week) is with frail older adults living in settings across the long-term care continuum. Using survey data in a sample of 23 AGPCNP graduates, we found high levels of overall program effectiveness and quality. This presentation will provide a context for discussing challenges of preparing AGPCNPs for practice in primary care. Presenters will provide resources and case exemplars of ways to develop AGPCNP student competencies that position them for successful practice.