Home Health Agency Preferences for Staff Nurse Qualifications, and Practices in Hiring and Orientation

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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to describe home health agency preferences with respect to staff nurse qualifications, and practices in hiring and orienting new staff. An 85‐item home health staff nurse selection and orientation questionnaire was used to collect data from a random sample of 287 midwestern home health agencies in 12 states. Qualifications rated most highly were medical‐surgical experience, venipuncture skills, completion of a physical assessment course, intravenous therapy skills, and patient‐teaching skills. With agency sponsorship (traditional, proprietary, and hospital‐based) as the independent variable, the three types of agencies were significantly different on ratings of six qualifications and six orientation topics. None of the agencies rated a BSN degree as very important or required, and the same was true for completion of a student experience in community health nursing. Preference for qualifications in this study is consistent with increasing acuteness of patients' illness and technologic complexity of home care.

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