The Concepts in Geriatric Care project, a result of a grant from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) and the Hartford Foundation, was developed by the College of Graduate Nursing (CGN) as a collaborative effort to expand the knowledge and experience of advanced practice nurses in the care of older clients. CGN has developed a Self Assessment tool to appraise knowledge of BSN-level core geriatric competencies. The assessment is taken on-line and immediate feedback provides many remediation sources. In addition, a series of modules for Advanced Practice students and Advanced Practice nurses to expand their geriatric knowledge is currently under development. These modules include: Introduction (includes demographic & sociological aspects of the older population, as well as assessment of older adults); Geriatric Financial Issues & Resources; Ethical Issues in Geriatric Health Care; Interdisciplinary Team Practice (including Comprehensive Assessment) in Geriatrics; and, Guided problem-solving for provision of primary care presented as four case studies. Western University is one of only ten graduate universities that received funding from the Hartford Foundation to develop innovative ways to enhance the FNP graduate curriculum in the area of geriatrics. Elizabeth Monninger-Towner, PhD, FNP is the principal investigator for the project.

The College of Graduate Nursing received a three-year grant from AHEC (Area Health Education Center) to improve the cultural competency of nurses employed by San Bernardino Public Health Department to better serve their clients. While the majority of clients served by the public health department are of Hispanic origin, less than 5% of the nursing staff are Hispanic or bilingual. Therefore, CGN developed a web-based course (Cultural Competency for Health Professionals at www.culturalhealtheducation.org) for all employees. CGN, currently in the second year of the project, is developing a Medical Spanish course to assist all health providers in communicating with their clients. CGN will also share this web-based course with alumni and enrolled students as well as public health nurses in Imperial County. Imperial County is on the border of Mexico and California and has a large population of Hispanic clients. CGN Dean, Karen Hanford, MSN, FNP is the principal investigator for the project. Tony Hilton MSN, FNP presented both projects at the national meetings for HETC and AHEC in 2004.

The National Susan G. Komen Foundation awarded a $76,000 grant to Peggy Rowberg, ND, ANP in 2003. The purpose of this grant was to teach an accurate and adequate clinical breast exam (CBE) to nurse practitioner students. The focus was changed after the initial pilot was completed for two NP programs. The project now centers on developing an online interactive course module which teaches the "5Ps" of the exam because it became clear that NP faculty do not teach a standardized CBE exam. This module will include faculty teaching points and will then be adapted for use for NP students. Dr. Rowberg is working with the Mammatech Corporation with the hope of including the company's computer assisted pad which measures pattern and pressure.