5 faculty are Distinguished Educators in Gerontological Nursing

The National Hartford Center for Gerontological Excellence (NHCGNE) recognizes nurse educators for their exemplary contributions to gerontological nursing education. Through teaching excellence, and advanced knowledge and skill for providing high-quality care to older adults, the Distinguished Educators in Gerontological Nursing awardees make contributions toward preparing the future nurse workforce to care for diverse aging populations. The School of Nursing has five faculty who are Distinguished Educators in Gerontological Nursing.

Siobhan McMahon, PhD, APRN, GNP-BC
McMahon, a co-director of CASCI, is the most recent awardee. As an advanced practice registered nurse in gerontological nursing, her teaching and research focuses on improving the health and wellness of older people. She mentors and advises undergraduate and graduate students whose projects center on improving nursing care for older adults. She engages with community partners and interdisciplinary colleagues to promote health and prevent falls among older people.

Niloufar Hadidi, PhD, APRN, ACNS-BC, FAHA
As coordinator for the adult/gerontological clinical nurse specialist specialty, Hadidi guides and mentors students to engage in gerontological nursing scholarship and quality improvement initiatives to improve the care of older adults. Hadidi participates in the health sciences Interprofessional Geriatric Case Competition as a judge.
 

Kristine Talley, PhD, RN, GNP-BC
Talley co-directs the Minnesota Northstar Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program, where she leads the creation of interprofessional education resources to teach Age-Friendly Care. These freely accessible resources offer nurse educators and preceptors access to digital learning modules. She developed and teaches a course on advanced practice nursing care for older adults for the adult gerontological nurse practitioner and clinical nurse specialist students.

Mary Goering, PhD, RNBC
Goering has led and facilitated student practicum experiences related to gerontological nursing. She served as the Geriatric Nursing Champion for the BSN and MN programs since 2009. In this role, she works with faculty to ensure that gerontological nursing is integrated in the programs.  Goering created teaching resources related to caring for older adults, and she has served as an adviser for DNP projects for students in the adult gerontological nurse practitioner specialty.

Christine Mueller, PhD, RN, FGSA, FAAN
Mueller served as the co-director for the Minnesota Hartford Center for Gerontological Excellence. She was part of a team that developed a national faculty development program to prepare nursing faculty to teach gerontological nursing. She was awarded a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration to develop exemplary clinical experiences for students in nursing homes. This initiative prepared nursing faculty from nursing schools in four states through workshops to develop clinical experiences in nursing homes. She served on national expert panel that developed competencies for gerontological nurse educators and led the validation process to finalize the competencies.