Visiting Nurse Service of New York & Queensborough Community College

Strengthening the Home Care Nursing Profession

Strengthening the Home Care Nursing Profession is a two-part program designed to recruit from the large pool of Associate Degree (AD) nurse graduates and prepare them for practicing as Home Health Care Nurses in a community setting. The Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY), and its educational partner, Queensborough Community College, aim to bridge the educational gap through curriculum requirements and additional clinical training.

Part I of the program conducts a gap analysis to define the differences between Associate and Baccalaureate educational content in Public Health Nursing. The analysis is the foundation for curriculum development for a 50-hour classroom and field-based certificate program in which 30 AD graduate nurses per year (60 AD nurses in total) will receive training in the home care specialty.

AD nursing graduates who successfully complete the certificate program each year are recruited for Part II of the project. Eight AD Nurses per year (16 AD nurses in total) are selected, hired and participate in an intensive year-long internship program designed for highly developed independent nursing practice in home care settings.

Monitoring and evaluation of the program include clinical knowledge pre/post tests, Associate/Baccalaureate job satisfaction and retention rate comparisons, productivity reports measuring patients seen per day by AD nurse, individual performance assessments and additional qualitative data gathered in focus groups with AD nurses.