Despite the trend of patient care moving more and more into the community, many RN nursing education programs in North Carolina are focused on hospital-related care. Because the need for hospice and home care services have increased, so have the need for RNs. It has become imperative that this element of patient care be more significantly integrated into the training and education provided to nursing students as an essential part of the healthcare delivery system. With the support of the SECU Foundation and the Golden LEAF Foundation, the Association for Home and Hospice Care of North Carolina’s (AHHCNC) charitable Foundation, The Hospice and Home Care Foundation of NC, with input from key partners such as the North Carolina Board of Nursing and North Carolina Community College System, developed a clinical rotation and onboarding model for use in RN-level nursing education programs and home care and hospice agencies for a 3-Year pilot project, which concluded in September 2022. The project included clinical rotations and other exposure opportunities through nursing education with the intention of providing a more robust educational experience in home care and hospice and how they fit into the overall healthcare delivery system. The model included on-boarding mechanisms to help prepare new nurses in their agencies. In addition, the program adds an additional pipeline to help fill the great need for home care and hospice RNs.

Because of the project’s success and the ongoing need to expand around the state, the Hospice & Home Care Foundation of North Carolina was awarded a CCME Foundation grant in 2022 to build upon this initiative, already proven to help address the serious shortage of RNs in home health and hospice services in North Carolina. The original model developed by the Hospice & Home Care Foundation was included in seven (7) school and agency partnerships; all seven are continuing the model long-term and even expanding upon their original plans. The seven pilot project partnerships included Cape Fear Community College and Lower Cape Fear LifeCare, East Carolina University and 3HC Home Health and Hospice Care, Inc.; Appalachian State University and Trellis Supportive Care, Gardner-Webb University and Hospice of Cleveland County, UNC-Chapel Hill and Transitions LifeCare, Inc.; UNC-Pembroke and HealthKeeperz, and Surry Community College and Mountain Valley Hospice and Palliative Care and Hugh Chatham Health at Home.

Lory Byrd, DPN, Associate Director for Academic Programs, Health Sciences with the North Carolina Community College System stated, “As healthcare continues to change and grow, nurse education must change to meet the workforce demands. Hospice and home health are critical in healthcare. Pursuit of positive patient outcomes require us to develop a workforce that will be prepared to meet critical needs in home health and hospice.”

The CCME Foundation grant supports the statewide roll-out of the model for one year under the leadership of Project Director Susan Harmuth and support of Hospice & Home Care Foundation Executive Director Judy Penn, with long-term project management transition operationally to the AHHCNC. The organization’s model is garnering national attention and it is planned for pilot project results to be included in a future journal publication. Lastly, it is the intention of the Hospice and Home Care Foundation to of bring the model to South Carolina next.

According to a student participant from East Carolina University: “Prior to this experience, I had given little thought to the role nurses play in public health. Home health has given me a more potent display of the ways public health affects people’s daily lives; it is all around us. I have been inspired by patients’ stories, saddened by their hardships, and ultimately encouraged by the role I get to play in their stories, both individually and on a broader scale. This class has given me new perspective that I did not know I needed. I hope that my experiences at the bedside will continue to motivate me to press into these issues that affect the American public throughout my career.

To learn more about this project please visit: https://bit.ly/AHHCFoundation.