Nurse leaders wanting to do a better job in long-term care facilities and other senior care settings are getting a new way to better prepare.

A nationwide Geriatric Nursing Leadership Academy is being formed, the nursing honor society Sigma Theta Tau International announced yesterday at the annual meeting of the American Organization of Nurse Executives in Washington. The John A. Hartford Foundation has pledged nearly $530,000 to get the academy established.

Over the next year, organizers will determine a curriculum for the academy and begin forming a network of mentors for academy attendees. Mentors will be a key to the program, which also will feature online learning modules.

Early-career nurses are expected to start attending academy classes in 2008, organizers said. Attendees will earn dozens of CE credits rather than certificates or degrees during the course of the program, which could last 12 to 24 months and will be modeled after a successful Maternal Child Health Leadership Academy the honor society has conducted for more than five years.