Nursing

LTC Dedicated Education Unit

Project Title: UMass Lowell-D’Youville Transitional Care-Dedicated Education Unit Partnership – Enhancing Faculty, Student, and Staff Education and Opportunities in Long Term Care. 

Project Summary: The TCDEU (Transitional Care Dedicated Education Unit) project is funded by the Massachusetts State Department of Higher Education, 2011-2012.  The overall objective of the TC-DEU is to improve the education of nursing students, nursing staff, and faculty in gerontological nursing and highlight nursing care for older adults transitioning from acute care settings as a practice opportunity.  

This objective is being accomplished through a university-community partnership model approach to develop a Transitional Care-Dedicated Education Unit (TC-DEU). The project activities include:  
  • Development of preceptor training curricula related to the treatment of physical and mental health problems in older adults which will be disseminated to other universities and long term care facilities via a state-wide website
  • Conduct joint training sessions for faculty and staff
  • Implement student summer internships to foster long-term care as a primary career option for new BSN graduates
  • Develop clinical placements for junior nursing students during the fall and spring semesters
  • Host a Summer 2012 (Thursday, August 16,, 2012, at the UMass Inn and Conference Center, Lowell, Mass.) workshop for long-term care facilities and Massachusetts institutions of higher education to provide hands-on training materials and seminars, and present results of this pilot project to enable the project to be replicated statewide.  
Development and testing of the TC-DEU is anticipated to impact the education of faculty, students, and staff which will ultimately improve the quality of care of older adults throughout Massachusetts.  The final product will be sustainable and replicable model of nursing education that integrates long-term care into nursing education and promotes long-term care as a primary career option for nursing students.
nursing students at dyouville
Junior nursing students Nadine Daou and Nick d'Hemecourt begin their rotation at D'Youville in Lowell, with Kerry Foley, staff nurse.

Dissemination 

2012 Abdallah, L., Dodge, l., Dowling, J., Prendergast, N., Rathbone, A., Remington, R., 
Shellman, J., Thornton, C.,                       
          & Melillo, K.D., LTC Dedicated Education Unit:  Evaluation of an Innovative Clinical Education Model. Annual  
          Scientific Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, Charting New Frontiers in Aging, San Diego, CA, 
          November 14-18, 2012. 

2012    Abdallah, L., Dodge, L., Dowling, J., Prendergast, N., Rathbone, A., Remington, R., Shellman, J., Thornton, C. &     
           Melillo, K.D., Dedicated Education Unit in Long-term Care:  UMass Lowell and D’Youville Center for Advanced                   
           Therapy Partnership for Transitional Care – Development, Implementation and Evaluation of an Innovative Clinical 
            Education Model. St. Anselm College  20th Annual Conference for Nurse Educators and Clinicians:  Partners in  
            Developing Tomorrow’s Nurse; Resort and Conference Center, Hyannis, MA, May 30-June 1, 2012.  

LTCDEU Team
  • Karen Devereaux Melillo, Ph.D., ANP-C, FAANP, FGSA  - University of Massachusetts Lowell 
  • Lisa Abdallah, Ph.D., RN, CNE - University of Massachusetts Lowell 
  • Juliette M. Shellman, Ph.D, PHCNS-BC - University Massachusetts Lowell
  • Ruth Remington, Ph.D, APRN-BC - University Massachusetts Lowell
  • Lea Dodge, MS, RN - University of Massachusetts Lowell 
  • Jacqueline Dowling, Ph.D., RN, CNE - University of Massachusetts Lowell  
  • Stephanie R. Lane, MSW, Project Administrator - University of Massachusetts Lowell 
  • Naomi Prendergast, CEO/President of D’Youville Life and Wellness Community  
  • Cynthia Thornton, Director, CAT - D’Youville Transitional Care Unit 
  • Andrea Rathbone, Administrator - D’Youville Transitional Care Unit