Trends and Opportunities in Geropsychiatric Nursing: Enhancing Practice Through Specialization and Interprofessional Education

Forecasted changes in the demographics of the United States suggest there will be an unprecedented need for health care professionals with specific training in geropsychiatric care. An aging society, the dearth of geropsychiatric health care professionals, the shortage of educators, and the lack of interprofessional geropsychiatric education require new strategies for nursing education to address these issues. The vision of the Institute of Medicine serves as a foundation for transforming geropsychiatric nursing and interprofessional education to prepare the next generation of nurses and the geropsychiatric workforce to improve the mental health care of older adults. This article aims to describe the importance and implications of implementing the recently released Geropsychiatric Nursing Competency Enhancements and the Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice to improve the mental health care of older Americans. A secondary aim is to discuss how to overcome barriers in implementing interprofessional education in geropsychiatric nursing care.