NJ Nurse Delegation Project - "There's No Place Like Home"
The New Jersey Nurse Delegation Pilot Project - dubbed "There's No Place Like Home" - is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The purpose of the project is to explore the idea of registered professional nurses delegating skilled tasks to certified home health aides so that consumers who need these services can remain in their homes or be discharged back to the community from nursing homes; hence, the name of the project.
Examples of skilled tasks to be delegated would include:
- Medication administration
- Dressing changes
- Other care usually rendered by a registered professional nurse
The project also includes a research component to identify best practices and to monitor outcomes during the pilot.
Fifteen to twenty Medicaid PCA (Personal Care Assistant) agencies will be selected to participate; then project staff will train agency staff.
After being trained, the agency nurses will select consumers whom they have assessed to be appropriate for this service and then will assign home health aides to them. Participation is strictly voluntary for everyone involved.
