Other Titles
Research into Practice: International Scope and Standards for Home Healthcare Nursing [Title Slide]
Abstract
Introduction: Home healthcare nursing (HHN) is any nursing care provided in people’s homes. It includes low to very high acuity nursing services that people need throughout their lifespans (Narayan, 2025). Future trends predict nursing care around the world is migrating into people’s homes (Chabouh et al., 2023) because the home setting is frequently more patient-centered, more effective, and less costly than care in facilities (Rusli et al., 2025). HHN has a distinctive set of attitudes, knowledge, skills and goals (Hinck, 2022) that may vary by country. At the same time, the World Health Organization (WHO; 2025) encourages nurses to enhance the global equity and quality of their care through harmonization of nursing education and practice. Seeking high-quality, equitable HHN around the world, an international HHN organization seeks to align the global HHN profession with the WHO’s (2025) policy recommendations and International Council of Nurses' (2021) Code of Ethics. Nurses around the world participated in a research process to develop standards of practice to enhance the practice of HHN around the globe.
Global Research Methodology: The purpose of this presentation is to 1) alert nurses to a replicable IRB-reviewed research process in which about 200 HHNs from about 40 countries (and WHO’s 6 geographic areas) participated in answering the research question: What should the international standards of HHN be? And 2) to inform nurses about the 20 standards that were derived through the global research process.
Findings and Outcomes: Global HHN participants came to agreement about what the aspirational standards should be. The 20 standards identified are evidence-based and address clinical practice, education, research, leadership and advocacy. They can help HHNs evaluate and enhance their own clinical practice. They can be used to guide evidence-based initiatives, advocacy, leadership and policy-making so HHN’s care recipients receive optimal health and wellbeing while protecting their own health and wellbeing. to enhance home health nursing practice and the well-being of their care recipients and themselves. They can provide a map for nurses in countries where HHN is under-developed so high-quality HHN can be equitably distributed around the world.
Notes
References:
1. Chabouh, S., El-Amraoui, A., Hammami, S., & Bouchriha, H. (2023). A systematic review of the home health care planning literature: Emerging trends and future research directions. Decision Analytics Journal, 7, 100215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dajour.2023.100215
2. Hinck, S. M. (2022). A theoretical framework of home-based professional nursing practice. Home Healthcare Now, 40(3), 146–153. https://doi.org/10.1097/NHH.0000000000001063
3. International Council of Nurses. (2021). ICN Code-of-Ethics. https://www.icn.ch/sites/default/files/2023-04/ICN_Code-of-Ethics_EN_Web_0_0.pdf
4. Narayan, M. C. (2025, October 28-31). Providing excellent nursing care in people’s homes. Poster presented at the. 2025 Transcultural Nursing Conference: Addressing Healthcare Needs in a Global Society, Portland, Maine, USA.
5. Rusli, K. D. B., Lau, Y., Lau, S. T., Tham, L. S., Kee, M. M. N., Ng, Q. W., Ong, S. F., Karen, S., & Liaw, S. Y. (2025). Development and validation of competencies for home-based nursing care: An e-Delphi study. International Journal of Nursing Studies Advances, 8, 100330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnsa.2025.100330
6. World Health Organization. (2025). State of the world’s nursing 2025: Investing in education, jobs, leadership, and service delivery. World Health Organization. https://iris.who.int/server/api/core/bitstreams/a4173924-a18f-49b6-8bd1-9c2a4a098980/content
Sigma Membership
Epsilon Zeta
Lead Author Affiliation
International Home Care Nurses Organization, Warminster, Pennsylvania, USA
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Other
Research Approach
Mixed/Multi Method Research
Keywords:
Global Leadership, Health Equity or Social Determinants of Health, Public and Community Health, Scope of Nursing Practice--Standards, Home Health Nursing, Nursing Practice--Standards, Home Health Nurses, Health Care Delivery
Recommended Citation
Narayan, Mary Curry; Harris, Marilyn D.; and Hinck, Susan M., "Research into Practice: International Standards for Home Healthcare Nursing Practice" (2026). International Nursing Research Congress (INRC). 59.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/inrc/2026/presentations_2026/59
Conference Name
37th International Nursing Research Congress
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Conference Year
2026
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2026-07-25
Research into Practice: International Standards for Home Healthcare Nursing Practice
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Introduction: Home healthcare nursing (HHN) is any nursing care provided in people’s homes. It includes low to very high acuity nursing services that people need throughout their lifespans (Narayan, 2025). Future trends predict nursing care around the world is migrating into people’s homes (Chabouh et al., 2023) because the home setting is frequently more patient-centered, more effective, and less costly than care in facilities (Rusli et al., 2025). HHN has a distinctive set of attitudes, knowledge, skills and goals (Hinck, 2022) that may vary by country. At the same time, the World Health Organization (WHO; 2025) encourages nurses to enhance the global equity and quality of their care through harmonization of nursing education and practice. Seeking high-quality, equitable HHN around the world, an international HHN organization seeks to align the global HHN profession with the WHO’s (2025) policy recommendations and International Council of Nurses' (2021) Code of Ethics. Nurses around the world participated in a research process to develop standards of practice to enhance the practice of HHN around the globe.
Global Research Methodology: The purpose of this presentation is to 1) alert nurses to a replicable IRB-reviewed research process in which about 200 HHNs from about 40 countries (and WHO’s 6 geographic areas) participated in answering the research question: What should the international standards of HHN be? And 2) to inform nurses about the 20 standards that were derived through the global research process.
Findings and Outcomes: Global HHN participants came to agreement about what the aspirational standards should be. The 20 standards identified are evidence-based and address clinical practice, education, research, leadership and advocacy. They can help HHNs evaluate and enhance their own clinical practice. They can be used to guide evidence-based initiatives, advocacy, leadership and policy-making so HHN’s care recipients receive optimal health and wellbeing while protecting their own health and wellbeing. to enhance home health nursing practice and the well-being of their care recipients and themselves. They can provide a map for nurses in countries where HHN is under-developed so high-quality HHN can be equitably distributed around the world.
Description
International trends indicate that healthcare is increasingly migrating out of facilities and into people’s homes. Home healthcare nursing (HHN) is a specialized area of nursing practice with distinct attitudes, knowledge, skills, and patient goals. This presentation describes the global research process used to develop international standards for HHN practice. It will also briefly describe the 20 aspirational standards for global HHN practice.