Factors affecting undergraduate nurse educators' knowledge, skills or attitudes about older persons and their care: An integrative review.

Abstract

Nurses are increasingly expected to provide care for older persons; however, there are too few nurse educators with expertise in older person care to ensure students graduate with the requisite competencies. An integrative review, using Whittemore and Knafl's framework, was undertaken to identify and synthesise evidence about factors affecting nurse educators' knowledge, skills or attitudes about older persons and their care. Forty-four articles met the inclusion criteria. All but three papers originated in the USA. Content analysis yielded three central themes: external-level factors, employer-level factors and individual-level factors. Findings demonstrated that external funding from philanthropic organisations and government agencies supported many of the national, regional and site-specific initiatives, which were, in many cases, underpinned by professional regulatory frameworks. Negative attitudes of administrators and reduced budgets of educational institutions impeded the availability of such initiatives. Negative attitudes of individual educators towards older person care and the specialty of gerontology constrained their pursuit of such learning, as did their lack of awareness of current gerontology resources. The lack of educators with gerontology knowledge, skills and requisite attitudes requires a focused effort from external and professional bodies, and from educational institutions to ensure the resources are available to enhance educator expertise in gerontology. Rigorous study addressing the factors influencing educators' knowledge, skills or attitudes towards older persons and their care is required. Addressing the lack of nurse educator expertise in gerontology could help to ensure new nurses have the required competencies to provide quality older person care.