Planning for Workforce Development in Geriatric and

Long-Term Care

The Arkansas Community Foundation

Arkansas State Board of Nursing, Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care, Arkansas Health Care Association, Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Nursing

Heather Larkin, JD, CPA, President/CEO The Arkansas Community Foundation, hlarkin@arcf.org; 501.372.1116

Claudia Beverly, PhD, RN, FAAN, Director, UAMS, Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence, cjbeverly@uams.edu; 501.686.5979

Brief Project Synopsis: 

The purpose of this project is to focus on the geriatric registered nurse workforce need in one specific setting - the nursing home.  We believe that a natural pipeline into registered nurse programs and geriatric nursing exists with the licensed practical nurses (LPN) and certified nursing assistants (CNA) who are currently practicing in nursing homes.  We are convinced that the Associate Degree Nursing /Diploma to Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) or Master of Science in Nursing (MNSc) and the BSN to higher degrees including the doctorate is essential to addressing critical needs such as well-prepared faculty in geriatric nursing and nurses who can care for geriatric patients with complex care needs.

Project Goals and Objectives:

Our goal is to improve educational preparation of registered nurses caring for frail older adults at all levels through a unified educational pathway by establishing the Arkansas Partners in Long Term Care (PLTC) nursing program.

An Executive Committee, composed of representatives of each of the partners, will work together to meet four objectives to position our state to prepare increased numbers of registered nurses working in long term care with expertise in geriatrics: 1) conduct an environmental scan indicating  readiness to implement an Arkansas “partners in long-term care” (PLTC) nursing program, 2) develop a web-based information system to disseminate information about the PLTC program,3) develop and facilitate the unified educational pathway for geriatric nursing education, and 4) pilot test the unified educational pathway through the PLTC.