Innovations: Nursing Science, Education, Practice - University of ...

Corporate Partnerships
Genesis Health Ventures and Penn Nursing:
A Unique Ve n t u re
A heath-care network
and Penn Nursing have
f o rmed a unique part n e r s h i p
that goes far beyond the
traditional corporate/academic
partnerships.
Penn Nursing’s association with
Genesis Health Ve n t u res started in
1993 when the organization began
u n d e rwriting Penn scholarships for
g r a d u a t e - d e g ree nurse practitioners. It
g rew last year when Genesis Health
Ve n t u res financed the development of
a shared re s e a rch agenda with the
Center for Gerontologic Nursing
Science. A joint $450,000 grant fro m
The Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation to develop and evaluate a
p rogram of palliative care in nursing
homes underscored its import a n c e
later in the year.
“This is an exciting model of partnership
between a publicly traded
corporation and a highly re s p e c t e d
academic institution,” said Ira Byock,
MD, director of Pro m o t i n g
Excellence in End-of-Life Care ,
Howard Tuch and Neville Strumpf are creating
new ground for collaboration.
a national program supported by
RWJ. “This forw a rd-thinking pro j e c t
holds the potential to change the
quality of health care for patients and
for all of long-term care.”
Genesis Health Ve n t u res, the
n a t i o n ’s third - l a rgest long-term care
p ro v i d e r, develops and manages
h e a l t h - c a re networks for the elderly
in the eastern United States. Genesis’
E l d e r C a re network offers a continuum
of care to meet the changing
needs of aging patients through
health centers, home-care programs,
outpatient clinics, and managed life
c a re communities.
Promoting excellence in
elderly care
The grant from the RWJ Foundation
to study palliative care came as part of
its $9.1 million program Pro m o t i n g
Excellence in End-of-Life Care ,
which was designed to foster longt
e rm changes in health-care institutions.
Only 21 projects from 678
submitted won funding, and Penn was
the only nursing school selected.
Neville Strumpf, PhD, FAAN, RN,
p rofessor of nursing and
d i rector of Penn’s Adult-
G e rontological Nurse
Practitioner Program and
the Center for
G e rontologic Nursing
Science, will oversee the
study at Penn. The cod
i rector on the project is
H o w a rd Tuch, MD, dire c-
tor of palliative care services
at Genesis ElderCare.
“Nearly 20 percent of
American deaths occur in
nursing homes, and we
know very little about
“ Penn’s nurse
practitioners are
the best thing
that ever
happened to us.”
PA U L T. CA S S, MD,
Genesis Health Ve n t u re s .
these deaths,” Strumpf said. “The goal
of the Penn-Genesis project is to further
our understanding of how people
die in nursing homes, to improve the
c u l t u re of care for the dying, and to
evaluate the benefit of intro d u c i n g
palliative care programs for nursing
home residents and their families.”
“The study will help the nursing
home industry develop a compre h e n-
sive approach to understanding and
managing the needs of the dying,”
Tuch said. “Our program addre s s e s
the needs of health professionals as
well as patients. There is very little ritual
surrounding the death and dying
p rocess in our centers. Ritual is necess
a ry to acknowledge and assist the
grieving process of the care g i v e r. It
not only demonstrates the import a n c e
of the deceased, but also re i n f o rces the
value of the caregiver and the quality
of care that they provide.”
Advancing evidence-based
nursing home care
Genesis decided last year to invest
in re s e a rch through Penn. With a
grant to the School’s Center for
22 P e n n N u r s i n g