What We Do

A unique strength of the Research Center is its close relationship with its parent agency, the Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY), the largest nonprofit home care agency in the United States. With a patient population of more than 100,000 and a staff of 2,100 nurses, 500 rehabilitation therapists, 450 social workers, and 4,700 home health aides, VNSNY provides the ideal laboratory for conducting home care research.

The Research Center:

	Tracks VNSNY patient outcomes and reports the results to clinicians to improve care
	Assists in developing and evaluating interventions and models to improve care
	Helps VNSNY clinicians translate the latest clinically proven practices into care

Research focused on VNSNY not only benefits the agency and its patients with improved care, but the data gathered have broad application for home care in urban settings throughout the United States.

At the same time, the Research Center supports the larger field of home care by:

	Advancing the knowledge base underpinning home care practice and policy
	Documenting trends
	Framing emerging challenges
	Identifying promising models
	Analyzing policy options and their impact
	Shaping the future home care research agenda

A broad network of collaborations with other health care researchers and institutions is central to the Research Center’s work, ensuring its timeliness, applicability, and usefulness to the home care community. These relationships also strengthen the Research Center’s ability to serve as a hub for information on advances in home care research.

The Beatrice Renfield Nursing Research Program

The Beatrice Renfield Visiting Nurse Scholar program was implemented on September 1, 2003 with a bequest from Mrs. Renfield that was visionary, generous, and timely. Mrs. Renfield’s vision was to forge an exemplary, cutting-edge alliance between the Visiting Nurse Service of New York and academic nursing that would enhance patient care, increase opportunities for intellectual stimulation among VNSNY nurses, and influence nursing practice and education. This multifaceted program is unique in home care and has the potential to become a powerful model that will move the whole field forward. In collaboration with the Visiting Scholar, staff from the Center for Home Care Policy and Research and from VNSNY’s many programs work on three broad fronts:

1. Knowledge dissemination and evidence-based practice
2. Professional development
3. Research and evaluation

In 2003—the first year of this Program—VNSNY established a collaborative relationship with the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and launched a Visiting Scholar arrangement whereby a Penn Nursing faculty member spends time in residence with VNSNY and works with the Center for Home Care Policy and Research to develop one or more appropriate, relevant, and mutually agreeable research/demonstration projects.

The first Beatrice Renfield Visiting Nurse Scholar was Karen Schumacher, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Nursing. Dr. Schumacher worked as our Renfield Scholar from September 2003 through August of 2004. View her speech on the future challenges of home care at the VNS Esprit Awards ceremony titled "Our Century in Home Care".

Misson and Goals