Portland, Ore.

OHSU professor who specializes in family care for the frail elderly received the national award

The Gerontological Society of America has chosen Patricia G. Archbold, D.N.Sc, R.N., F.A.A.N., as the 2004 recipient of the Doris Schwartz Gerontological Nursing Award. Archbold is the Elnora E. Thomson Distinguished Professor of Nursing in the Oregon Health & Science University School of Nursing and director of the OHSU John A. Hartford Center of Excellence in Geriatric Nursing.

The Gerontological Society's award Clinical Medicine section presented the award in collaboration with the John A. Hartford Foundation Institute for Geriatric Nursing, part of the New York University Division of Nursing, in recognition of Archbold's outstanding and sustained contribution to geriatric nursing research. Doris Schwartz was a pioneer in gerontological nursing research. An award is given every year in her name to recognize her visionary and exemplary contributions.

Archbold's research focuses on family care for frail elders and on new methods that home health nurses and health care systems can use to better serve elders and their families. The breakthrough findings from her research have led to new ways of thinking about how the discipline of nursing can best support families caring for frail elders.

Her research is funded primarily by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute for Nursing Research.

Archbold is a member of the American Academy of Nursing and the Gerontological Society of America, and is an adjunct investigator for the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research at Kaiser Permanente and the Parkinson's Study Group, a non-profit, cooperative group of Parkinson's disease experts in the United States and Canada. Also Archbold acts as a sponsor for students working in the area of family care and family care for elders.

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