Building a dementia-capable nursing workforce.

Abstract

Undergraduate nursing students will play a pivotal role in caring for the rising numbers of older adults and people living with dementia (PLWD). However, many do not receive training in geriatrics or dementia and do not enter this field post-graduation, contributing to the workforce shortage. We aimed to capture students' interest and intention to work with PLWD, their suggestions about training, and to evaluate interest in a new elective long-term care (LTC) externship. We developed and administered a survey to Bachelor of Science in Nursing students consisting of questions modified from the Dementia Attitude Scale and related to respondents' health care experience, attitudes about caring for older adults, comfort working with PLWD, and willingness to develop geriatric and dementia care skills. We then conducted focus groups about desired curricular and clinical content. Seventy-six students completed the survey. The majority reported low interest in working with and low knowledge of caring for older adults and PLWD. Six focus group participants expressed interest in participating in hands-on learning opportunities. Participants identified specific training components to attract students to geriatrics education. Our findings informed the development, piloting, and evaluation of a new LTC externship at the University of Washington Schoool of Nursing.