VNA Care Network Awarded Federal Grant for Nursing Internship and Preceptor Program
VNA Care Network was recently awarded $810,000 by the federal government to develop a Home Health Care Nursing Internship and Preceptor Program to address the nursing shortage in eastern and central Massachusetts.
"This grant is funding a unique approach. Most efforts to address the nursing shortage treat the problem as a hospital or nursing school faculty issue. But the reality in the field is that nursing is shifting to community-based practice. Indeed, 40.01 percent of nurses work outside of hospitals," said U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, who announced the grant with VNA Care Network President and CEO Karen H. Green during a meeting with staff and the media on Oct. 23 at VNA Care Network's headquarters in Worcester.
The demand for home health care is on the rise due to advances in technology and medicine that allow more complex health concerns to be managed at home, shorter hospital stays, and a growing elderly population that wishes to age in place. The shortage of nurses in home health care can result in unnecessary hospitalizations, delayed hospital discharges, and lack of access to appropriate health care to the underserved.
Traditionally, home health care agencies have required nurses to have at least two years of experience in an acute care setting, such as a hospital, before moving into the field of home health care. This grant, which runs for three years and is funded by the Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), will allow VNA Care Network to develop and implement an internship and preceptor program to bring non-traditional candidates (recent nursing graduates, nurses from non-acute settings, and nurses re-entering the workforce after refresher programs) into the field while allowing experienced home health care staff to serve as mentors. The 12-month, comprehensive internship will give non-traditional candidates the skills they need to deliver highly skilled, culturally competent care in the home setting.
VNA Care Network will also assist other home health care organizations in developing their own programs by offering the preceptor training and internship program core curriculum through web-based publishing and educational programs.
For more information about the Home Health Care Nursing Internship and Preceptor Program, contact Linda Baker at lbaker@vnacarenetwork.org or 888-663-3688, ext. 5453.
Posted: Nov. 6, 2003