Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to examine the outcomes from the William Randolph Hearst Scholars Program (HSP) conducted at Maine Medical Center, Portland, Maine from September 2005 to September 2006. The HSP was an interdisciplinary (nursing, rehabilitation therapies, social work, clergy, pharmacy, physicians, respiratory therapy, physician's assistant) educational opportunity (12 months, 50 hours of education) with the goal of improving the quality of care for older adults in an acute care medical setting. The focus group participants (21 out of 39 Hearst Scholars) participated in a 1.5-hour focus group immediately following completion of the program. After analyzing the data, the results revealed an overarching theme of empowerment in four specific topical areas: knowledge, connection, barriers, and hopeful trends, with specific themes emerging from each topic. This demonstrated the importance of the HSP for the participants.