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- Geronurseonline.org is Awarded 2006 World Wide Web Health Award
- More Sensitive Tool for Detecting Dementia
- Updated Features in Family Caregiver Alliance’s Online Caregiving Resources
- National Hotline Helps Professionals Assist Clients With Medicare Drug Benefit Questions and Problems
- Nighttime Blood Pressure Patterns Associated With Congestive Heart Failure
Geronurseonline.org is Awarded 2006 World Wide Web Health Award
GeroNurseOnline.org, the Web site of the Nurse Competence in Aging (NCA) initiative, was selected as a Silver Award winner of the Spring/Summer 2006 World Wide Web Health Awards. The award was given in the category of online health promotion/disease and injury prevention information. This is the second year GeroNurseOnline.org has been given this honor. GeroNurseOnline.org was awarded a silver award in the same category for the Spring/Summer 2005 awards.
GeroNurseOnline.org is an online resource for nurses who wish to learn more about geriatric syndromes, their possible causes, and treatments and to translate that knowledge for the immediate benefit of their patients. Nurses can search the site by patient signs and symptoms, specific geriatric topics, or nursing specialty areas. Other resources include information on hospital competencies, becoming certified as a gerontological nurse, and developing a career in geriatric nursing. A tutorial can guide users through the various other resources that GeroNurseOnline.org provides. The Web site was launched in July 2004 and designed by Jasper Design in New York.
The World Wide Web Health Awards is organized by the Health Information Resource Center (HIRC), a national clearinghouse for consumer health information programs and materials. This Web-based health awards is an extension of the HIRC’s 13-year-old National Health Information Awards (NHIA), the largest program of its kind in the United States. There were nearly 1,000 entries in this year’s National Health Information Awards from hundreds of organizations. The center, which houses a large collection of public and private-sector health resources, promotes the distribution of accurate, timely consumer health information materials to professionals and managers in the field.
The GeroNurseOnline Web site is a component of the Nurse Competence in Aging initiative. Nurse Competence in Aging is a 5-year initiative funded by the Atlantic Philanthropies (USA) Inc., awarded to the American Nurses Association (ANA) through the American Nurses Foundation (ANF). It represents a strategic alliance between the ANA, the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), and The John A. Hartford Foundation Institute for Geriatric Nursing at the New York University College of Nursing. Nurse Competence in Aging works with specialty nursing associations to bring geriatric knowledge to their membership and enhance members’ competence in aging.
More Sensitive Tool for Detecting Dementia
A screening tool for dementia developed by Saint Louis University geriatricians appears to work better to identify mild cognitive problems in the elderly than the commonly used Mini Mental Status Examination, according to a new study.
John Morley, M.D., director of the division of geriatric medicine at Saint Louis University, created the Saint Louis University Mental Status Examination (SLUMS) to screen more educated patients and to detect early cognitive problems.
It takes a clinician about 7 minutes to administer the SLUMS, which supplements the Mini Mental Status Examination by asking patients to perform tasks such as doing simple math computations, naming animals, recalling facts, and drawing the hands on a clock.
Saint Louis University researchers used both screening tools to test 705 men who were aged at least 60 years and were being treated at the Geriatric Research Education Clinical Center, Veterans Administration Hospitals in St. Louis in 2003. They found that although both tools detected dementia, only the SLUMS recognized a group of patients as having mild cognitive problems.
The SLUMS, which is free and currently used at many Veterans Administration hospitals, is available at: http://medschool.slu.edu/agingsuccessfully/pdfsurveys/slumsexam_05.pdf. The study appeared in the November 2006 issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
Updated Features in Family Caregiver Alliance’s Online Caregiving Resources
The National Center on Caregiving at Family Caregiver Alliance (FCA) has added new features to its online database, “Caregiving across the States.”
Accessible in map format on the FCA Web site, the interactive database provides information for each state about publicly funded support programs for caregivers of adults with chronic illnesses or disabilities and statistics about the caregivers themselves. Helpful for program developers, policymakers, and reporters, the resource also allows caregivers and service providers to access information they need to seek assistance and benefits for themselves or their clients.
The information is presented in a separate profile for each state and the District of Columbia. Updated data are reflected in the “Selected State Background Characteristics” sections of the state profiles. NEW state-by-state data include:
In addition, key updates for each state include:
To learn more about the family caregiving landscape in your state, visit FCA’s Caregiving across the States Web page: www.caregiver.org.
National Hotline Helps Professionals Assist Clients With Medicare Drug Benefit Questions and Problems
The Medicare Rights Center’s “Prescription Drug Helpline for Professionals” provides guidance to professionals assisting older adults and people with disabilities with the Medicare prescription drug benefit, including help enrolling in a private drug plan and resolving problems with drug coverage once enrolled in a plan.
The Helpline team provides free and expert information about the new Medicare prescription drug benefit, including tips on how to apply for the “extra help” to pay for the benefit; how to pick a drug plan; how to appeal private drug plan denials; and how the Medicare drug benefit works with state pharmaceutical assistance programs and other drug coverage.
The Prescription Drug Helpline for Professionals is available Monday through Friday, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (EST) at (877) RxHELP-0/(877) 794-3570.
Nighttime Blood Pressure Patterns Associated With Congestive Heart Failure
Nondipping blood pressure (BP) and increased nighttime ambulatory diastolic BP appear to be predictors of congestive heart failure (CHF), according to a Swedish study of nearly 1,000 older men.
Authors assessed whether diurnal BP patterns provided information beyond that obtained with standard office BP measurements as a predictor of CHF. Baseline 24-hour BP monitoring was performed and BP variables were studied.
After adjusting for BP treatment and established CHF risk factors, the hazard ratio (HR) for nondipping BP was 2.29, and a 9 mm Hg increase in nighttime diastolic BP had a HR ratio of 1.26. Even after adjusting for BP taken in the office, HR was still 2.21 in patients with nondipping BP.
SOURCE: JAMA 2006; 295:2859-66.
PII: S0197-4572(06)00355-7
doi:10.1016/j.gerinurse.2006.11.007
