Nascentia Health launches nurse-residency program in home care

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Nascentia Health says it’s starting a nurse-residency program focused on home care.

The organization is using a $300,000 grant award from the New York City–based Mother Cabrini Health Foundation to establish this program, per its Wednesday announcement.

Residency programs transition recent graduates of nursing schools into clinical positions though training and skills development in specialty fields. Nascentia’s program will be “the first in the area focused on home care instead of a hospital environment, offering an alternate entry point to the profession,” Nascentia said.

“With the growing demand for high quality nursing care at home, the need to develop a skilled group of clinical professionals is incredibly important,” Andrea Lazarek-LaQuay, registered nurse (RN) and chief clinical officer at Nascentia Health, said. “This residency program builds on Nascentia Health’s 132-year history of caring for patients in their homes and will help us build a strong team of nurses to continue this legacy.”

 About the program

The residency program launching this summer will accept its first class of nurses through a “highly selective” application process, Nascentia Health said. Nurses graduating this spring with associate or bachelor’s degrees — or who have less than a year of clinical experience — are the focus of the program. It includes 12 months of structured education and training in the field of home-care nursing.

The only residency programs currently available for nursing graduates in Central New York are through a hospital setting, Nascentia Health said. Its program offers a “completely new residency experience for graduates, teaching all of the skills they would receive in a hospital setting plus additional proficiencies specific to home care.” Nascentia’s residency program is a “more individualized educational format,” with residents shadowing preceptors and experienced nurses during home visits.

“This is what nursing is all about,” said JoAnn Racino, Nascentia’s director of clinical development and informatics. “Home care gives you a unique opportunity to develop a one-on-one relationship with your patient and work with them to improve or maintain their quality of life over the long term.”

The residency program will focus on core skills such as assessing a patient’s needs and risk factors based on multiple aspects, including their home environment, social and economic considerations, and social determinants of health. Nurses will have the opportunity to work with patients ranging from adults, infants, and children to the elderly and end-of-life care.

Nurses accepted into the program will receive a $12,000 sign-on bonus and “competitive” salary and benefits, and are eligible for loan repayment, tuition reimbursement, and fleet vehicles. As resident nurses, they will have regular Monday through Friday work hours with no weekends and no on-call for the first year.

More information and online applications for the program are available at nascentiahealth.org/NRP. Applications are being accepted now for the program starting in early July.

About Nascentia Health

The nonprofit Nascentia Health has been headquartered in Syracuse since 1890. The organization — which has additional offices in Rome, Latham, Greece, and Tonawanda — describes itself as one of the largest home-care agencies in Central New York.

Besides its home-based, skilled nursing, and therapy services, Nascentia Health offers home health aides, a Medicare Advantage plan, and managed long-term care.