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The Networks of Centres of Excellence has launched a new national network of community practitioners and researchers to help Canada care for its fastest growing population group – aging babyboomers.

The National Initiative for the Care of the Elderly (NICE) is one of five New Initiative Networks funded by the NCE. Headquartered at the University of Toronto's Institute for Life Course and Aging, NICE brings together more than 40 researchers, doctors, nurses and social workers from across Canada who specialize in gerontology. It's the first network of its kind in Canada, and comes at a time when the country is facing a critical shortage of trained professionals able to care for a greying population, and with few students enrolling in these specialties.

Health Canada expects the senior population to hit 6.7 million by 2021, ballooning to 9.2 million by 2041 – or nearly one in four Canadians.

"We're facing a wave of older Canadians and a shortage of the three main professions that provide care for the elderly: doctors, nurses and social workers," says Dr. Lynn McDonald, NICE's Scientific Director and Director of the U of T institute. "In 2000-2001, only seven new students in all of Canada went on to do a specialty in geriatric medicine and there are also only two programs in Canada for gerontological social work, one at the University of Calgary and a new one at U of T."

Gerontology is the study of the elderly and the aging process. It differs from geriatrics which is the study of the diseases of the elderly. Gerontology is by its nature multidisciplinary, bringing together professionals from different disciplines to address the social, psychological and biological aspects of aging and to translate this knowledge into policies and programs.

"Taking a team-approach to care-giving is essential for older adults who require more complex care," explains Dr. McDonald. "They have more chronic illnesses, drug interactions and serious falls. No single person can solve these problems. You need a national network that can help make team training a standard practice in Canada, and that's the opportunity the NCE is giving us with NICE."

The new network has laid out an ambitious agenda for the next two years. Its main priorities are to:

1. Establish links between university researchers and community practitioners in medicine, nursing and social work to improve senior care practices
2. Develop and improve educational initiatives, including the introduction of basic geriatric knowledge into core courses in medicine, nursing and social work
3. Develop training programs for practitioners already in the field to develop and refine skills in caring for older adults
4. Influence policy makers in development of policy for care of seniors

Connecting science and practice
A wealth of research exists on how to effectively care for older adults. Unfortunately, little of this knowledge is being used by professionals who care for the elderly.

NICE Partners University Support - Brock University - University of British Columbia - University of Manitoba - University of Sherbrooke - University of Toronto Industry Support - Chartwell Seniors Housing REIT Federal Government Support - Canadian Institutes of Health Research: Institute of Aging - Public Health Agency of Canada Other Institutional Support - Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care - Canadian Academy of Geriatric Psychiatry - Canadian Association on Gerontology - Canadian Geriatrics Society - Canadian Gerontological Nursing Association - Réseau québécois de recherche sur le vieillissement - The John A. Hartford Foundation - Toronto Rehabilitation Institute

NICE will work to change that. Dr. McDonald says they hope to bridge the gap between science and practice through professional education and better student training.

"Across the country we're putting together clusters of academic teams of geriatrician doctors, gerontological nurses and social workers. There will be mirror teams in the community that they interact with. It will be a two-way street. Academics will help educate people on the ground who, in turn, will share their practice wisdom," she says.

Through experience, community caregivers may have learned what works and what doesn't work in dealing with people with cognitive disabilities, for example. If NICE is successful in becoming a full fledged NCE in the future, it would then be able to work with researchers to validate that practice wisdom, and then share the results with other community partners to develop and improve practices for the care of Canada's seniors.

"I believe this will really benefit older people if people start to use some of the knowledge we know works."

NICE will also work with academic institutions to introduce basic geriatric knowledge into undergraduate and graduate courses in medicine, nursing and social work. As Dr. McDonald points out, the goal is to train new professionals to understand the complexities of elder care, and the importance of working with interdisciplinary teams to find solutions.

Mentorship programs aimed at masters and doctoral students will be established to encourage more young people to consider a career in gerontological and geriatric care. These students will also join the cluster teams to learn how to get people to use research.

"We want them to learn from the ground up that it's not enough just to publish the results of your research," she adds. "It needs to be put into practice."

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