Enhancing Long-Term Care for Older Adults: An Exploration of Interagency Collaboration within Geriatric Education Centers

Abstract

This article examines how the study of geriatric education provides a collaborative environment in which nonprofits can work together and with government in order to effectively manage the challenges in caring for older adults in the coming decades. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) provides federal funding to implement and maintain Geriatric Education Centers (GECs) in health care facilities across the country. These GECs have recently been directed to focus on strengthening the availability and quality of comprehensive interdisciplinary training for health care professionals that work with older adults. The funding has come at a time when the nation is faced with both a shortage of health care professionals and a dramatic increase in the older adult population in future years. Due to the critical relevance of GEC offerings for health care and the baby boomer generation, this study provides an exploratory evaluation of programs offered by GECs and the degree of both interdisciplinary and interagency collaboration between GECs, community nonprofits, and government partners in the provision of geriatric health care training. Findings suggest the interdisciplinary and interagency partnerships do exist but are vulnerable to conflicts especially between GECs.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bardach

(1998). Getting Agencies to Work Together. Washington, D.C.: Brookings.

Bardach

(2001). Developmental Dynamics: Interagency Collaboration as an Emergent Phenomenon. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 11(2), 149–164.

BHPR employees will not lose jobs due to budget cuts, Duke says. (2006). Health Resources and Services Administration News Summary, 3. Retrieved June 12, 2009, from http://newsroom.hrsa.gov/newssummary/january2006.htm.

Board of Regents of NSHE & University of Nevada, Reno. (2007). Nevada GEC2007-2010 Grant Proposal. Reno, NV: Patricia Swager.

Busby-Whitehead

& Miller

(2008). Carolina Geriatric Education Center. Retrieved June 8, 2009, from www.med.unc.edu/aging/cgec/.

Fewster-Thuente

, & Velsor-Friedrich

Interdisciplinary Collaboration for Healthcare Professionals. Nursing Administration Quarterly 32(1), 40–48.

Fried

L.P.

, & Hall

W.J.

(2008). Leading on Behalf of an Aging Society. Special Series: The Association of Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs Symposium. The American Geriatrics Society.

Hays

(1999). Our Future Requires Collaborative Leadership. Workforce, 78(12), 30.

Health Resources and Services Administration. (2008). Fact Sheet: Health Resources and Services Administration. www.hrsa.gov/about/factsheets/default.htm.

10.

Houldin

A.D.

, Naylor

M.D.

, & Haller

D.G.

(2004). Physician-Nurse Collaboration in Research in the 21^st Century. Journal of Clinical Oncology 22(5), 774–776.

11.

Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. (2008). Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce. Retrieved June 13, 2009 from http://www.iom.edu/Object.File/Master/53/507/HealthcareWorkforce_RB.pdf.

12.

Kovner

C.T.

, Mezey

, & Harrington

(2002). Who Cares for Older Adults? Workforce Implications of an Aging Society. Health Affairs 21, 78–89.

13.

Kraus

W.A.

(1980). Collaboration in Organizations: Alternatives to Hierarchy. Boston, MA: Human Sciences Press.

14.

Lancaster

(1985). The Perils and Joys of Collaborative Research. Nursing Outlook 33, 231–238.

15.

Lansdale

(Interviewer) & Roush

(Interviewee). (2000). Focus On: Geriatric Education Centers (Interview transcript). Retrieved from ElderWeb website: www.elderweb.com/home/node/2275.

16.

Linden

(2002). A Framework for Collaborating. The Public Manager 31(2), 3–6.

17.

Mezey

, Mitty

, Burger

S.G.

, McCallion

(2008). Healthcare Professional Training: A Comparison of Geriatric Competencies. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 56, 1724–1729.

18.

Nova Southeastern University. (2009). Florida Coastal Geriatric Resources, Education and Training Center. Retrieved June 8, 2009, from www.nova.edu/gec/about.html.

19.

Page

(2003). Entrepreneurial Strategies for Managing Interagency Collaboration. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 13(3), 311–340.

20.

Preparing for the silver tsunami. (2006). Alliance for Aging Research. Retrieved from http://www.agingresearch.org/content/article/detail/826/.

21.

University of Alabama at Birmingham & Center for Aging. (2007). Alabama Geriatric Education Center Grant Proposal. Birmingham, AL: Christine S. Ritchie.

22.

University of Alaska Anchorage. (2007). Alaska Geriatric Education Center Grant Proposal. Anchorage, AK: Rosellen Rosich, Unknown.

23.

United States Census. (2000). Older adult population of the states. Retrieved June 13, 2009 from www.census.gov.

24.

United States Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Health Resources and Services Administration. (n.d). First Annual Report to the Secretary Department of Health and Human Services and to the Congress, Review and Recommendations > Interdisciplinary, Community-Based Linkages, Title VII, Part D Public Health Service Act. Retrieved June 13, 2009 from http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/Interdisciplinary/acicbl/reports/first/c5.htm.

25.

Van Eyk

and Baum

Fran

. (2002). Learning about Interagency Collaboration: Trialling Collaborative Projects Between Hospitals and Community Health Services. Health and Social Care in the Community 10(4), 262–269.

26.

Vogel

, Ransom

, Wai

, & Luisi

(2007). Integrating Health and Social Services for Older Adults: A Case Study of Interagency Collaboration. Journal of Health and Human Service Administration 30(2), 199–228.