Mary H. Palmer, PhD, RNC, FAAN, is Professor and the Helen W. and Thomas L. Umphlet Distinguished Professor in Aging, at the University of North Carolina (UNC), Chapel Hill. She is an interim co-director of the UNC Institute on Aging and the project director of a Health Resources and Services Administration Comprehensive Geriatric Education Program grant entitled, "Improving the Care of Acutely Ill Elders." She is an Associate Editor of the "Journal of the American Geriatrics Society" and on the Editorial Boards of "Geriatric Nursing and Clinical Geriatrics." Dr. Palmer is a Fellow in the Amer...