Before a curriculum revolution can take place, the health care system must confront its orientation toward mortality; the inadequacies of our theoretical frameworks and research must be addressed; and gerontology and geropsychiatry/geropsychology must be recognized as a nontraditional specialty and subspecialty. 2. Geropsychiatric care will not come into its own if certain stereotypes and assumptions are not changed. One challenge is for health care providers to become involved in a reformulation of the public's stereotyped image of older adults, which reinforces prejudices rather than possibilities. 3. Collectively, geropsychiatric nurses must communicate the excitement of their field to students, faculty, alumni, patients, colleagues in other disciplines, and the media.
