AgeWISE Program Focuses on Quality of Life
August 30, 2011
Providing a quality of life as patients move toward the end of life.
As the nation’s aging population continues to climb, caring for older patients will be at the core of the health care industry. Providing those patients with a quality of life at the end of life becomes a critical piece of the health care process and Methodist Health System is putting itself among the leaders in the industry.
Preparing nurses to make the hospital experience better and safer for aging patients and their families is the very premise of the AgeWISE Program, a unique nurse residency program designed to strengthen the nursing workforce by improving knowledge, skill and competencies of nurses in geriatrics and palliative care, or geropalliative care.
Methodist Hospital was chosen as one of six hospitals nationally as a pilot site for the program. The nurse residency offering is a collaborative effort with Nebraska Methodist College – The Josie Harper Campus (NMC) and is financially supported by both.
“What sets us apart from the other pilot locations is the strong and existing collaboration between Methodist Hospital and Nebraska Methodist College,” said Fran Henton, nursing professor at NMC and site director for AgeWISE. “We feel that collaboration and our other qualifications is why our application far exceeded the program requirements and ultimately led to our selection.”
What makes this program unique is the focus on caring for aging patients who may be facing end of life issues. The AgeWISE program promotes the crucial role nurses play in making the hospital experience better and safer for older patients.
“Geropalliative care is focused on the last two-to-five years of life – before the end of life,” said Deborah Conley, AgeWISE site coordinator. “Every day our nurses are faced with end-of-life patients and often times there are not good processes in place. Our program focuses on starting the discussion early and encouraging our nurses to be aware of what the patients are going through. With the terminally ill, the conversation and the care need to start up front – so quality of life is assured. Our program is about empowering nurses to have those conversations.”
Participants in the nurse residency program complete 96 hours of coursework between March and August. Participants include both veteran and novice members of the nursing staff. A total of 10 nurses are enrolled in the inaugural session – six oncology/surgery nurses and four general/medical nurses.
Karen Huston, RN-BC with the general medical unit on 7-South at Methodist Hospital, is one of the veteran participants. Huston has found great value in the nurse residency program. This 21-year nursing veteran says having the skills to start end of life conversations is invaluable.
“We are asking people to make decisions at a time when they can’t,” Huston said. “These are decisions that should have been made months or even years ahead, but end of life issues are uncomfortable and hard to discuss. This program gives me the tools to help families talk about it, while also helping physicians through the process. You don’t want to take away their hope, but you do have to be realistic. You want the patients and their families to enjoy the time they have left.”
Huston says the education is good for nurses, especially since they spend so much time around the patients and their families.
“If you sit down with patients, even for a few minutes, and give them your undivided attention you can better meet their needs,” Huston said. “There are often so many more pieces to the care puzzle and having the conversation and sharing it with other staff can really benefit the patient.”
Methodist Health System staff traveled to Boston to receive education about the program at Massachusetts General Hospital, who has championed the program the past three years.
Topics during the six-month nurse residency program touch on issues such as palliative care and hospice, mealtime difficulties, pain assessment and management in older adults, pressure ulcers and wound care, grief loss and bereavement, symptom management, achieving quality care at end of life, depression, delirium and dementia.
“We see this as not just a project, but a cultural change within our system,” Conley said. “We will have these skills embodied into what we are doing regarding the care for our patients. This program truly deepens The Meaning of Care. This program speaks to quality of life at the end of life.”
Graduation ceremonies were held recently for the first class to complete the nurse residency program. Graduates included: Diane Benshoof, Jenna Comley, Peggy Dyer, Penny Fink, Melanie Jamison, Barb Johnson, Karen Huston, Linda Mann, Tametrius Mathis, Stacie Miskie, Mary Mitchell, Vici Sortino, Alison Wise and Mercedes Yanes.
