As the percentage of elderly adults within the U.S. continues to grow, long-term care options will increase. Facing increased competition from other forms of long-term care, many nursing homes are seeking innovative models to enhance management and clinical care practices. The Teaching Nursing Home model, first established in the 1970s, is one in which academic institutions partner with nursing homes to create information exchanges between the nursing home and the school. Currently, nursing schools throughout the country work with nursing homes to create clinical training sites for nursing students. The partnership is also used to encourage research among school faculty and to assist nursing homes in their management of best practices. This study examined the impact of these relationships on nursing home quality. Twenty teaching nursing homes were matched with twenty nursing homes that are not engaged in this practice. Using nursing home quality scores published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, mean outcomes for the matched pairs were compared using T-tests. Regression analyses were also performed to test whether quality improves over time within a teaching nursing home. The results from the T-tests performed did not show overall quality differences between the matched pairs. However, when analyzed regionally, some significance was observed for teaching nursing homes in the Upstate NY region (p<0.1). The study discusses some of the differences in design of the teaching nursing homes within that region and the impact that may have on results. Time as a teaching nursing home did not appear to affect quality for nursing homes in this study. Possible explanations for these insignificant results are discussed in the Summary, Discussion and Limitations section of the study. Overall, the findings from this study suggest that the Teaching Nursing Home model can add value to nursing homes by offering them research and professional training opportunities with academic institutions. Within the study, recommendations are made to further explore the impact of these partnerships on nursing home quality and to encourage the development and use of the model through policy changes. / Business Administration

Nursing schools struggle to prepare enough nurses to meet the health care needs of a diverse and aging population in the United States. Many students do not complete their degrees, contributing to the problem. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and describe how successful Latina students experience and respond to the academic challenges of prerequisite nursing courses. The nursing shortage; healthcare needs of Hispanic patients; student outcomes; self-efficacy, achievement goal orientation, and academic help-seeking; and Hispanic cultural values framed the study. Using semistructured private interviews, the researcher explored the lived experiences of 6 successful Latina students when they encountered challenges in prerequisite nursing courses. Seven superordinate themes emerged following interpretative phenomenological analysis of the data: (a) facing academic challenges, (b) recognizing emotional response, (c) seeking help, (d) transcending academic challenges, (e) owning knowledge, (f) persevering, and (g) living out values and beliefs. The hermeneutic approach allowed participants to describe the transition from avoiding to reaching out for help. Conclusions and recommendations include the need for faculty to recognize and respond to the importance of family, relationships, values, and beliefs to academic success in Latina students. Implications for social change include enhanced faculty ability to support the academic endeavors of this population. Improved graduation rates in Latina nursing students will help to address the nursing shortage and the need for a health care workforce that mirrors the population of the United States.