I am honored to write the foreword for this seventh edition of Evidence-Based Geriatric Nursing Protocols for Best Practice. It is imperative to build a national geriatric healthcare workforce prepared to support the growing demand for comprehensive, person-centered, age-friendly care to older adults. Given the rapidly growing, diverse aging population, nurses need evidence-based protocols to guide practice. Nurses caring for older adults, whether or not they self-identify as gerontological nurses, are expected to meet the needs of an aging population and implement evidence-based practice approaches to care in assessments, plans, and evaluations. To that end, the importance of this resource to guide nurses cannot be overstated. This book is edited by the experts in the field of gerontological nursing, and the authors of the chapters are renowned clinicians, educators, policy makers, researchers, leaders, and innovative change agents focused on care of older adults.

Since the first edition, this book has served as the “go to” place for nurses to use as the evidence for best practice approaches to care of older adults across health settings. Over the years, chapters including protocols on emerging health issues have been added to remain relevant. There is increased attention focused on promoting function, wellness, and caregiving; enhancing quality of life; and fostering dignity at the end of life, and this edition follows suit. New chapters include “Care and Management of Diabetes in Older Adults,” “Respiratory Care,” “Assessment and Management of Mealtime Behaviors, Function, and Nutrition in Older Adults Living With Dementia,” “Serious Mental Illness in the Older Adult: Care and Treatment,” “Care and Comfort at the End of Life,” “Incorporating Principles of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access Into Practice,” and “Supporting Empowered Work Environments.”

Unprecedented effects from population aging and older adults with acute and chronic conditions living in the community drive the need for evidence-based, age-friendly care, protocols, and models beyond acute care settings. To reach nurses and other health professionals working across these settings of care, this seventh edition expands the section on “Models of Care” to include “Long-Term Care Models,” “Community-Based and Primary Care Models,” and “Age-Friendly Health Systems.”

Evidence-Based Geriatric Nursing Protocols for Best Practice serves as an incredibly needed, valuable resource for evidence-based, pertinent information about clinical issues and syndromes that affect older adults. I encourage clinicians and students alike to continue to use this as a resource in practice and even for professional licensure and national board certification renewal related to care of older adults. Although the book’s title refers to “nursing protocols,” the content is applicable to clinicians for any health discipline caring for older adults. Hence, interprofessionals, such as physicians, physician assistants, social workers, dietitians, occupational and physical therapists, and homecare and long-term care workers, may collaborate to implement the protocols in curricula and in the provision of person-centered care.

Thank you to the editors and chapter authors for their dedication to continuing to update the geriatric nursing protocols.