This month's issue launches Home Healthcare Nurse's 20th year of publishing. Twenty years may not seem a long time, but it represents a major evolution in the delivery of home care in the United States. Just as Medicare changed the way hospital care was delivered in the 1960s, changes in the Medicare home care and hospice benefits along with prospective pay using DRGs for hospitals pressured home care to grow and extend services to care for patients discharged "quicker and sicker." Then, during IPS-and later, when PPS was implemented in October 2000-home care continued to change. The past 20 years have been a whirlwind, and we at HHN are proud to be your continuing choice as the leading journal for this great nursing specialty.
We have much in store for 2002 to celebrate our birthday. Look for some "flashback" articles throughout the year that are republished from older issues. You'll be surprised how, even though much has changed, many approaches to care and policy and regulatory concerns remain the same. A special 20th anniversary issue in October will include results of the survey described in this month's issue, as well as opportunities to examine our history and to contemplate home care and hospice nursings' future.
Our award-winning issue on OASIS & OBQI (April 2000) will be revised in our July issue, dedicated to updating you and your staff on OBQI as it is implemented today. Because of the overwhelming response of our April 2000 issue, we're going to offer prepublication orders of the July special issue so you can have copies for staff. Look for information about this in upcoming issues, or call the editorial office at (502) 339-9005. Our August 2001 issue will be dedicated to new ways to working with patients with dementia.
Clinically, our subject focus remains on the patient situations you face every day. Articles on wound care-both evidence-based approaches and organizational management; cardiac and respiratory care; infection control, pain, palliative, and end-of-life care, and numerous articles on caring for the person with diabetes. Look for new medication and product updates on diabetes and other client situations throughout the year.
Several exciting series will center on what you need to know about venipuncture techniques, PPS strategies, and oncology updates. Two new departments will address working with compounding pharmacies and using technology in your practice. All this, in addition to our ongoing features on accreditation strategies (now including CHAP as well as Joint Commission), Legislative & Regulatory Update, nutrition, ethics, Medicare, OASIS, OBQI, PPS, and other important challenges facing our everyday practices. We continue to offer at least two CE articles each month, and many bits of cutting-edge information to keep you ahead.
Everyone at Lippincott Williams & Wilkins works as a team on HHN to reach our mission of providing readers with peer-reviewed articles that share evidence-based research, clinical practice, and management in an attractive, easy-to-read format that saves you time and money. Helping you develop creative, cost-effective, and best practice approaches to clinical and operational management and regulatory compliance is our goal. Having you involved in the process means that we're always open to your input, suggestions, and constructive criticisms.