Author： Suggs Patricia K. Messick Catherine B. Mittelmark Maurice B.
Publisher： Routledge Ltd
ISSN： 1521-0472
Source： Educational Gerontology, Vol.25, Iss.3, 1999-04, pp. : 211-219
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Abstract
Rural hospitals face difficult times as Medicare health insurance threatens their survival. A small community in Polk County, North Carolina, developed a program that was designed to take advantage of the Medicare skilled nursing benefit as a payment source and which can be implemented by any rural hospital that has Medicare-certified swing beds or distinct nursing facilities. This program involves the development of a special unit, the Restorative Care Unit (RCU), which provides subacute care to older adults. A major element in the RCU care system is a highly structured continuing education program for hospital staff. The continuing education component trains personnel to implement and manage the RCU care system using a team approach. The Appalachian Geriatric Education Center Consortium recognized the need for dissemination of this model of service. They took the concept, developed a curriculum and implemented it with eight rural hospitals. The purpose of this article is to describe in detail the RCU care system continuing education element, and present results from a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the program. The stages of the development of the program are described, in addition to the content of the curriculum.
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