UR Nursing Researcher Receives Grant to Study Home Health Care Disparities

Jinjiao Wang, PhD, RN, postdoctoral program director and assistant professor at the University of Rochester School of Nursing, received an award from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to improve infection control in home health care.

The study, “Disparities in infection in home health and patients/caregivers’ perceptions (Dis-Infection in HHC),” is a five-year, over $2 million RO1 award. Wang and the study's principal investigator Jingjing Shang, PhD, RN, FAAN, professor of nursing at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, will examine socioeconomic disparities in COVID-19 cases and other infection events in home health care patients before and during the pandemic. Wang will serve as the site-PI to oversee study activities at the University of Rochester site. Findings from the study will help develop a home-based infection prevention and control program.

Wang’s career as a nursing scientist has been focused on improving home-based health care services for older adults and health outcomes of older adults with complex medical conditions and geriatric syndromes. In June, Wang received a pilot award from the U.S. Deprescribing Research Network to improve the quality of post-acute care and home health care for older adults with complex medical conditions who take multiple medications.