Alternate strategy for home health clinical experiences

Healthcare is increasingly shifting from acute care, inpatient settings to home and community settings. At the same time, nursing schools are seeking to increase enrollment to meet the demands for nurses in all settings of healthcare. The limited availability of home health clinical experiences and preceptors creates a challenge for educators seeking to prepare students for providing nursing care in the home environment. Faculty developed an alternate home health experience that provided students the opportunity to complete a home evaluation, patient assessment, and teaching for a community resident with an acute or commonly occurring medical condition. The alternate home health experience enabled students to meet the clinical objectives to demonstrate effective communication, conduct a home assessment, and provide health promotion teaching within the community. Nursing faculty must be prepared to meet the needs of patients while maintaining a safe and meaningful clinical environment for the student; therefore, an alternative to the traditional home health clinical can be utilized to effectively prepare students for future home health experiences.