The Narrative Enlarging

From The Critics

Reviewer: Marquis D. Foreman, PhD, RN, FAAN(University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing)
Description: This monograph chronicles the story of a highly successful community college-nursing home partnership seeking to improve the teaching of gerontological nursing and the care of elders residing in nursing homes. It is authored by the principal investigator of the project and highly endorsed by the funding foundation.
Purpose: The purpose is to provide an anecdotal report of the factors contributing to the success of the project and to share the findings of the project with others. It is a story of a partnership to teach associate degree students in nursing about gerontological nursing and to improve the care of elders residing in nursing home — both critical objectives.
Audience: The targeted audience is persons interested in developing academic-clinical care partnerships. However, the book also would be useful for faculty of gerontological nursing, nursing home administrators, and faculty interested in or considering community outreach programs.
Features: The monograph consists of six chapters summarizing various steps in this partnership. Each chapter concludes with "lessons learned" from that aspect of the partnership enterprise. Five appendixes conclude the monograph: The Proposal; Evaluation Reports; Annotated Project Publications; Survey Forms; and Project Staff.
Assessment: This monograph is disappointing in that it lacks sufficient detail about the processes involved in developing partnerships. Moreover, the author exclusively emphasizes the successes of the project. Yet, to truly be of use for others considering such partnerships, knowledge of pitfalls or problem areas and strategies for troubleshooting them would provide a better balanced reporting of the process. As a result, the author limited the contribution of their highly successful project. Despite these limitations, this book presents an interesting report of what can only be hoped to be the beginning of many future partnerships.

Marquis D. Foreman

This monograph chronicles the story of a highly successful community college-nursing home partnership seeking to improve the teaching of gerontological nursing and the care of elders residing in nursing homes. It is authored by the principal investigator of the project and highly endorsed by the funding foundation. The purpose is to provide an anecdotal report of the factors contributing to the success of the project and to share the findings of the project with others. It is a story of a partnership to teach associate degree students in nursing about gerontological nursing and to improve the care of elders residing in nursing home -- both critical objectives. The targeted audience is persons interested in developing academic-clinical care partnerships. However, the book also would be useful for faculty of gerontological nursing, nursing home administrators, and faculty interested in or considering community outreach programs. The monograph consists of six chapters summarizing various steps in this partnership. Each chapter concludes with lessons learned from that aspect of the partnership enterprise. Five appendixes conclude the monograph: The Proposal; Evaluation Reports; Annotated Project Publications; Survey Forms; and Project Staff. This monograph is disappointing in that it lacks sufficient detail about the processes involved in developing partnerships. Moreover, the author exclusively emphasizes the successes of the project. Yet, to truly be of use for others considering such partnerships, knowledge of pitfalls or problem areas and strategies for troubleshooting them would provide a better balanced reporting of the process. As a result, the author limited the contributionof their highly successful project. Despite these limitations, this book presents an interesting report of what can only be hoped to be the beginning of many future partnerships.

3 Stars from Doody