Americans over the age of 65, the fastest growing group in the United States, are putting an increased demand on the healthcare system. As the population of persons 65 years and older grows in numbers, it becomes vital to have healthcare professionals educated to care for their complex needs. Because many pre-licensure nursing programs assign nursing students to geriatric patients for their first clinical experiences, it is important to understand how these experiences may be influencing their attitudes toward persons who are aged. The purpose of this research was to determine if nursing students' attitudes toward persons who are aged changed following their first clinical experiences and if there was a difference in students' attitudes based on the sequence of their clinical experiences. This quasi-experimental study surveyed consenting first semester prelicensure nursing students before, during, and after completing their first clinical experiences using the Refined Aging Semantic Differential instrument. Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory was used to guide the study. Results showed that all nursing students entered the program with positive attitudes toward persons who are aged. Although overall scores remained positive throughout the semester, there were differences in attitudes between groups based on sequencing of clinical assignments. These results indicate sequencing of geriatric care clinical assignments may influence student attitudes.

The Future of Nursing explores how nurses' roles, responsibilities, and education should change significantly to meet the increased demand for care that will be created by health care reform and to advance improvements in America's increasingly complex health system. At more than 3 million in number, nurses make up the single largest segment of the health care work force. They also spend the greatest amount of time in delivering patient care as a profession. Nurses therefore have valuable insights and unique abilities to contribute as partners with other health care professionals in improving the quality and safety of care as envisioned in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enacted this year. Nurses should be fully engaged with other health professionals and assume leadership roles in redesigning care in the United States. To ensure its members are well-prepared, the profession should institute residency training for nurses, increase the percentage of nurses who attain a bachelor's degree to 80 percent by 2020, and double the number who pursue doctorates. Furthermore, regulatory and institutional obstacles-including limits on nurses' scope of practice-should be removed so that the health system can reap the full benefit of nurses' training, skills, and knowledge in patient care. In this book, the Institute of Medicine makes recommendations for an action-oriented blueprint for the future of nursing.

Ageism is prevalent in society and healthcare. Research has shown that nurses and nursing students do not prefer to care for older adults. With the percentage of older adults increasing, by 2030 one in five Americans will be over the age of 65. The current nursing shortage is increasing as the population increases. This growth in the older adult population will further increase the demand for nurses. Although many related studies have not been conducted in the United States, results are conflicting whether nursing students enter their education with negative attitudes towards the older adult or if they develop negative attitudes during the education and socialization process. Little is known regarding the effect of gender on these attitudes. The purpose of this study was to compare sophomore and senior baccalaureate nursing students’ attitudes toward older adults, using a cross-sectional comparative descriptive design. The convenience sample included all sophomore and senior baccalaureate nursing students at a Midwest university in the United States. Of the possible 179 students, 177 chose to participate, and this study was completed prior to the sophomores attending any clinical experiences. Attitudes were measured using the Kogan’s Attitude Toward Old People Scale (KATOP) and Work Preference Ranking. On the KATOP scale, both sophomore and senior nursing students had very positive attitudes toward older adults. As most research has shown nursing students having negative attitudes on this scale, this study was not consistent with the literature. Related to work preference ranking, most of the literature shows nursing students ranking caring for older adults low upon entering a nursing program, with these rankings becoming more negative over time. This study showed that although students consistently preferred to care for populations other than older adults, there was no statistical difference between sophomore and senior students’ attitudes toward older adults. Gender had no effect on attitudes toward older adults on the KATOP or work preference rankings. This study did show statistical significance for students who had previous experience caring for older adults compared to students with no experience. Students with this experience were more likely to rank caring for older adults more favorably. This study will add to the body of literature in the United States regarding nursing students’ attitudes towards older adults by showing that although nursing students do not prefer to care for older adults compared with other patient populations, their attitudes toward this age group are very positive.