R25 – 2016

Geriatric Oncology: Educating Nurses to Improve Quality Care

Welcome to the very first R25 to educate oncology nurses in gerontology!

The overarching goal of this R25 grant is to develop and implement a national educational curriculum in geriatric oncology for oncology nurses. There is an urgent need for this initiative because cancer is a disease associated with aging. The number of “baby boomers” age 65 and older is expected to double by the year 2030 leading to a projected 67% increase in cancer incidences in this age group.

The specific aims of this grant are:

1. To develop a comprehensive geriatric oncology curriculum for nurses, with input from top-level multidisciplinary faculty from around the country, which will advance nurses’ knowledge, attitudes, and skills related to caring for older adults with cancer.
2. To implement this geriatric oncology curriculum with national workshops for competitively selected nurses nationwide.
3. To evaluate the effectiveness of a comprehensive interactive geriatric oncology curriculum for nurses based on knowledge acquired from pre- to post-conference.
4. To evaluate the impact of a comprehensive geriatric oncology curriculum on the development of geriatric oncology nursing initiatives nationwide by measuring the progress and outcomes of workshop activities and changes initiated by the participants in their home settings.
5. To disseminate the findings from these conferences.

This 2½ day conference consists of a comprehensive yet targeted educational curriculum delivered by nationwide experts in geriatrics, oncology, and nursing education. On this page you will find access to all the slides and handouts from the conference, along with a full reference list provided by the speakers. The reference list in your syllabus has been edited due to space limitations.

We look forward to working with you over the next 18 months as you implement your plans to incorporate what you learned in your home institution. Thanks for being a part of this ground breaking conference to improve care of older adults with cancer!

An interesting article about Geriatric Assessment in oncology that we wanted to share with our participants.