Home Health Nursing Discipline Specific Competencies
Home Health Nursing Competencies are the integrated knowledge, skills, judgement and attributes required of a nurse working in home health to practice safely and ethically. Attributes include, but are not limited to attitudes, values and beliefs (adapted from Canadian Nurses Association Code of Ethics, 2008).
A review of the literature provided evidence of the vast array of diverse competencies required for the unique and complex practice of home health nursing (Mildon & Underwood, 2010). The review also identified over a dozen organizing frameworks for home health nursing competencies. The existence of so many frameworks speaks to the challenge of organizing competencies in a way that is practical, comprehensive and meaningful. As recommended at the conclusion of the literature review, the Canadian Community Health Nursing Standards of Practice (Community Health Nurses Association of Canada, 2008) have been used as the organizing framework for the home health nursing competencies contained in this document. The competencies are broad in scope, thereby lending themselves to application in multiple settings and for further detailing into more specific elements of practice for position descriptions or performance appraisal tools.
A Delphi process was conducted to assure consensus on the Home Health Nursing Competencies Version 1.0. The “ version 1.0 ” designation is intended to imply that the Home Health Nursing competencies will evolve and change over time, as nursing and public health practice knowledge evolves. The outcome of this work is The Home Health Nursing Competencies Version 1.0
Home Health Nursing Competencies
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Public Health Nursing Discipline Specific Competencies
Core Competencies for Public Health in Canada Release 1.0 was distributed in 2007 and helped to define the generic knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for the practice of public health. Core Competencies transcend the boundaries of specific disciplines and are independent of program and topic. (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2007).
The need to further define discipline specific competencies for public health nurses was identified as a priority by the Community Health Nurses Association of Canada (CHNAC) and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). Using the Core Competencies for Public Health in Canada Release 1.0 (PHAC, 2007), the Community Health Nursing Standards of Practice (CHNAC, 2008), and the Public Health Nursing Practice in Canada: A Review of the Literature (Hogan, 2008) as a foundation, a Delphi process was used to achieve consensus on the development of the discipline specific competencies for public health nurses. The outcome of this work is the Public Health Nursing Discipline Specific Competencies Version 1.0. The "version 1.0" designation is intended to imply that the PHN competencies will evolve and change over time, as nursing and public health practice knowledge evolves.
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Mapping the CHN Standards to the Competencies (PDF)
Core Competencies for Public Health
Members may be interested in linking to the Core Competencies at http://www.corecompetencies.ca where there are more detailed explanations, elearning modules, and an interactive section colleagues can use to help them integrate core competencies in their practice.
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