Graduate home health education: a survey of home health educators and agency personnel

Abstract

To determine if there is a body of essential content that should be common to master's-level home care programs, a purposive sample of 200 nurses involved in home health or community health nursing was selected. The respondents (N = 118), including faculty and educational administrators (N = 61) and supervisors and administrators of home health agencies (N = 57), were asked their perceptions of the knowledge needed and their priorities for curriculum content for master's-prepared home care specialists in both clinical and administrative roles. There was agreement in most content areas, but significant differences were found between faculty and agency personnel in their priorities for community health concepts, and in their evaluation of nursing theory and epidemiology as essential content in both roles. We believe these results have important implications for nurse educators. As schools prepare students for leadership roles in today's home care environment, it is critical that pertinent content be well integrated into the curriculum.