A successful partnership: Creating meaningful community health nursing experiences

Finding meaningful community health placement opportunities for student nurses, especially in home care, continues to be a challenge as class sizes increase and site capacities decrease. To address this growing problem, a baccalaureate nursing program and a home health agency entered into a partnership in 2010 for the purposes of advancing home care nursing practice and providing rigorous and meaningful clinical experiences for student nurses in the home setting. The home health agency-college partnership created a win-win opportunity for the college, the home health agency, and the residents receiving care. Selected nursing staff from the home health agency were hired as Clinical Instructors by the college and each oversaw a group of about 6 students in high-risk assisted living facilities well known to the home health agency. In any given semester, there are 3-4 groups accommodating 18-24 students. The students meet with residents on an individual basis, complete weekly nursing assessments, develop care plans and design and implement teaching plans. This presentation will examine the opportunity and obstacles of building the home health agency-college partnership, the numerous success stories of students and residents, tips on how to prepare the next generation of nurses about caring for frail elders in their homes and communities, plus a glimpse at opportunities for future partnership expansion including the development of a new grad residency program in home care.