NICE - National Initiative for the Care of the Elderly

nicenet.aging.utoronto.ca

Seniors (those adults 65 years of age, or more) are Canada's fastest growing population group. It is expected that the senior population will grow to approximately 6.7 million by 2021, and grow to 9.2 million by 2041 then accounting for nearly one in four Canadians. The fastest growth is occurring among those adults aged 85 and over.

Canada faces numerous challenges to deal with this impending demographic shift, including a shortage of doctors who specialize in the care of older persons and of students enrolling in these specialties. Education programs in medicine, nursing and social work sometimes do not offer even basic training in geriatric care and, when they do, their coverage is sometimes limited. As people age, they tend to develop more complicated health and social problems requiring more complex care that is best performed by interdisciplinary teams.

The National Initiative for the Care of the Elderly (NICE) is a national network of researchers and practitioners involved in the care of older adults through medicine, nursing and social work. The network aims to influence the care of Canada's seniors by:

• transferring knowledge about best practices for the care of the elderly;
• encouraging students to specialize in the care of older persons;
• refining existing practitioners' skills in the care of the elderly;
• shifting other practitioners' attention to the importance of caring for older adults; and
• influencing policy initiatives affecting Canada's seniors.

NICE will establish links between university researchers community practitioners in medicine, nursing and social work to help develop and improve practices for the care of Canada's seniors. The network will also help develop and improve educational initiatives aiming at introducing basic geriatric knowledge into core courses in medicine, nursing, and social work, and to also provide specific training programs in geriatric specializations.