Our History

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• March 2009 – Birth of the International Home Care Nurses Organization (IHCNO)

  Tina Marrelli, former editor of Home Healthcare Now, shared her hope for a “home care nurse-focused organization” in the journal. She invited home healthcare nurses, interested in being part of such an organization, to complete a survey about what such an organization should look like and what the purpose of the organization should be.

  For more information, see Tina’s editorial: Marrelli, T. (2009). The interdisciplinary team, a free resource and a survey to complete about the International Home Care Nurses Organization (IHCNO). Home Healthcare Now, 27(3) 138-139.

• October 2009 – Initial vision for the IHCNO

  Tina Marrelli and Liz Madigan, IHCNO leaders, reported on the survey in which home health nurses communicated their hopes for the IHCNO. Based on the results, the IHCNO will be a grassroots, member-driven, all-volunteer organization, with no dues, and no formal organizational structure.

  The IHCNO was envisioned as a “platform” for home health nurses to communicate and network with one another, with educational meetings. Tina invited nurses to join by signing-up for our e-mail list.

  For more information, see: Marrelli, T., & Madigan, E. (2009). Update about the International Nurses Organization – A functional home care nurse-focused “meeting place.” Home Healthcare Now, 27(9), 513.

• May 2011 – April 2012 – Going global

  Beginning in May 2011 and extending into April 2018, Tina Marrelli, primary leader of the IHCNO initiative, and Mary Narayan, IHCNO associate leader, provided poster presentations at several international nursing meetings and conferences. The poster, Excellence in the Patient’s Home through Global Connections: An International Organization for Home Care Nurses (IHCNO), highlighted the need for an organization that enables nurses throughout the world to better provide care to patients within their homes. The poster encouraged home care nurses to sign-up for our free membership e-mail list.

  The poster presentations were given at:

  • Biennial International Council of Nurses Meeting (Valetta, Malta; May 2011)

  • International Conference on Innovations in Nursing (Perth, Australia; May 2011)

  • Transcultural Nursing Society Conference (Atlanta, Georgia, USA; October 2012)

  • Visiting Nurse Associations of America Meeting (Phoenix, Arizona, USA; April 2012)

  • International Nurse Education Conference (Baltimore, Maryland, USA; April 2012)

  For more information, see: Narayan, M. C. (2011). The International Home Care Nurses Organization (IHCNO) goes global. Home Healthcare Now, 29(8), 519-520.

• July 2012 – Planning Meeting for first conference – Cleveland Ohio, USA

  On July 20-22, 2012, the IHCNO held a planning meeting at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, located on the campus of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. A group of 12 home health nurses began to plan an IHCNO conference for June 2013.

  They also discussed other topics such as funding ideas, outreach to home healthcare nurses around the world, and a working vision statement: “A vibrant worldwide network of home health nurses who promote excellence in providing optimal health and well-being to patients.”

• June 2013 – Inaugural Conference – Cleveland OH USA

  IHCNO’s inaugural conference – Th Future of Health Care is at Home – was held at the Case Western Reserve University Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing June 25 through June 28, 2013. Nurse participants included representatives from 14 countries, including Chile, Costa Rica, India, Jordan, Nepal, Qatar, South Korea, Singapore, Surinam, Thailand, Uganda, United States and Zimbabwe.

  Over 30 presentation and poster topics included information about research in home health nursing, implementing specialty programs (such as mental health, HIV diabetes, pediatric and palliative care programs), clinical education programs, quality initiatives and home health delivery care models in other countries. Networking activities and group meetings provided opportunities to envision the future of home-based nursing care and ways to educate nurses for this specialized area of nursing practice.

• September 23-26, 2014 – 2nd Annual IHCNO Conference – Singapore

  Co-sponsored by the Tsao Foundation in Singapore, the theme of the 2nd IHCNO conference was Person-Centred Care in Home-Based Nursing: Service Models, Nursing Roles and Competencies. In addition to many home care nurses from Singapore, presenters and participants also included nurses from Australia, Brunei, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Oman, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, and the United States.

  For more information, see: Narayan, M. C. (2016). 2nd International Home Care Nurses Organization Conference. Home Healthcare Now, 33(3), 147-149.

• July 2015 – 3rd Annual IHCNO Conference – Chicago, Illinois, USA

  Sponsored by the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Nursing, the conference’s theme was: Home Care: Providing Collaborative and Holistic Care. Home care nurses attending the conference heard about and discussed demographic trends that are changing the nature of home health nursing, new models for providing home care services and about innovations and “best practices” in home health nursing.

  Key note speakers included: 1) Anne Rooney, RN, MS, MPH who presented on “A Global Perspective on Home Care”; Mary Ann Christopher, RN, FAAN who presented on “The Catalyst for Transforming Systems of Care” and Fong Yoke Hiong, RN, MA who presented on “Beyond Home Care- A Life Course Approach in Caring for Our Seniors.” Breakout sessions were planned around four tracks: 1) clinical/best practices, 2) administration/leadership, 3) education and 4) research.

  Two major initiatives came out of the conference. Attendees decided to:

  • Develop guidelines for home healthcare nursing that outline the elements of excellent home-based nursing care suitable for home healthcare nurses around the globe.

  • Provide more education via internet to better reach home care nurses around the world.

  For more information, see: Marrelli, T. M. (2016). The history of the International Home Care Nurses Organization. Home Healthcare Now, 34(2), 114.

• July 2015 – September 2017 – Changing vision and structure

  With growing membership and interest in the IHCNO, the strategic planning group developed a new plan for the IHCNO. We made some decisions about the immediate future of the organization and the initiatives we would support over the next couple of years.

  First, as promised at the 2015 conference in Chicago, we began the process of developing international guidelines for home health nursing practice. A leadership group was formed, and members volunteered to be part of working and review groups. Over the course of 18 months, the group developed guidelines for outlining high quality home health nursing practice around the world.

  Second, we determined that the first webinar would be about the International Guidelines for Home Health Nursing, how they were developed and how they could be applied in different countries. We also developed a partnership with LaSalle University’s School of Nursing to facilitate our first webinar.

  Third, we decided we needed a more formal structure to accomplish our mission and initiatives. We formalized a Board-based organizational structure and incorporated as a non-profit organization.

  Finally we made the difficult decision to defer – at least temporarily – our annual conferences. This decision was made because: 1) attendance was too expensive for many nurses, 2) obtaining visas was becoming more difficult, and 3) we needed to put more time and energy into the guidelines and webinar projects.

• October 2017 – International Guidelines for Home Health Nursing released

  The new International Guidelines for Home Health Nursing project was completed in August 2017. Our dissemination plan included publication of the Guidelines in the October 2017 issue of Home Healthcare Now. With the help of our co-sponsor LaSalle University School of Nursing, we also co-sponsored a webinar about the Guidelines and how they were developed.

  For more information, see:

  • Narayan, M. C., Harris, M., Farris, C., Hiong, F. Y., McEnroe-Pettite, D. M. (2017). International Guidelines for Home Health Nursing. Home Healthcare Now, 35(8), 450.

  • Narayan, M. C., Harris, M. D., Farris, C., Hiong, F. Y. (2017). Development of the International Guidelines for Home Health Nursing. Home Healthcare Now, 35(9), 494–506.

  • Harris, M. (2018). International Home Care Nurses Organization (IHCNO) Webinar. Home Healthcare Nurse, 36(2), 131.

• October 2018 – Webinar: “Global Issues in Medication Management: Implications for Nurses”

  Co-sponsored by Fairfield University, our second free international webinar was on October 11, 2018. The webinar recording, powerpoint and handouts are available on our Resources page.