Humana announced a partnership Thursday with Eastern Kentucky University to teach nursing students how to deliver healthcare in the home.
Humana is contributing $75,000 to add a home studio lab within the university’s nursing simulation center, the Louisville, Kentucky-based company said in a news release. The studio will help student nurses learn how to provide care to patients in diverse settings and better assess social determinants of health. The partnership with the university expands Humana and its CenterWell division’s collaboration with approximately 50 nursing schools nationwide.
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The studio at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky, is set up to resemble a room in a patient's home. The furnishings and remote monitoring equipment are different from what is used in a hospital room. Kathy Driscoll, Humana’s chief nursing officer, said the goal of the home studio is to help students understand both the challenges and opportunities of providing care where people live.
“We want to show nurses that there is a bigger world out there from a practice setting,” Driscoll said. “What you’re trained for in a hospital and what you expect to have right at hand is not the same when you are working in the home, so we have to build up awareness and confidence in students.”
The university has approximately 750 students enrolled in its nursing program, and Driscoll said many of the students come from rural communities where there are nursing shortages in both hospitals and home healthcare.
Humana helped fund a similar lab three years ago at Emory University’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing in Decatur, Georgia.
Driscoll said Humana’s partnerships with nursing schools include internships and potential job opportunities for nurses after graduation. She did not provide additional detail on the number of nurses the company has recruited from those programs.
Humana employs approximately 10,000 nurses nationwide through its health plans, CenterWell Home Health and CenterWell Primary Care units.
