Sending Beginning Nursing Students to Gerontology Units: Best introduction to nursing or elder abuse

Introduction
It is often suggested that it is unethical to send novice student nurses to gerontological nursing units, as it implies that the students are there to practice their fundamental skills on a captive, compliant and often voiceless population.  Some gerontological nurses say having inexperienced student nurses care for their clients undervalues the knowledge and skill required in working with the elderly, yet they are usually very pleased to have another “pair of hands and strong back”  arrive on the ward, and tend to delegate some of the heaviest clients to the students’ care.