Caregivers want to help others. They also want to have meaningful work, a reliable career path and adequate pay. Organizations want to retain caregivers and provide exceptional care to clients.
These ideas intersect with proper training. Training is the key to caregivers feeling confident and providing great care and organizations retaining quality caregivers.
Use Home Care Stakeholders and Partners
Proper training can be provided in several ways. Organizations can leverage resources from various stakeholders and partners to create a winning situation for both parties.
Stakeholders and partners who can help retain quality caregivers include:
- Hospitals
- Nursing homes
- Skilled nursing facilities
- Assisted living facilities
- Home health and hospice organizations
- Rehabilitation centers
- Payers
- Physicians
Stakeholders want organizations to succeed for various reasons, such as recoupment of payments due to rehospitalization. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many have experienced the benefits of being at home, especially for the elderly. Meticulously trained caregivers can help clients stay at home and home care organizations stay in business.
Partners of your organization can assist with training. Nursing homes, rehab facilities and long-term care facilities may allow home care providers to attend training sessions at their facilities. Investing in an online education platform can also be very beneficial for newly hired and ongoing caregiver training. Tracking and annually reviewing this training is essential, and having the right software partner can make tracking a seamless process.
Create a Skills Lab for Less
Another option is to create a skills lab in your home care office using donated items. An unused office can be transformed into a skills lab where clinicians or exemplary caregiver staff can train newly hired caregivers using equipment they will use in a client’s home.
Proper knowledge of the use of a cane or walker, blood pressure cuff and even proper positioning when helping a client get up from a chair can be demonstrated and tested before the caregiver ever enters a client’s home.
Often, durable medical equipment companies will donate used items for training purposes.
Other proven ways to stock a skills lab include donations from families once their equipment is no longer needed and using Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist and other online sales platforms for discounted equipment.
Small items, such as gait belts, thermometers and blood pressure cuffs, can be found inexpensively from retailers.
One Area of Training to Prioritize
Training caregivers in fall risks and safety hazards on what to look for in the home can help prevent client falls, one of the top causes of hospitalization for seniors.
Teaching caregivers to educate clients on the proper way of getting up after a fall is also vital. Equipping caregivers with fall prevention tips that they can use in client homes and sharing those tips with clients and their families can drastically reduce the potential for falls.
When home care organizations prioritize proper training, caregivers will experience the confidence to deliver exceptional care and the assurance of their value within the organization. Using these tips will help home care organizations improve patient outcomes and reduce turnover.
Axxess Home Care is a home care software that enables organizations to track the training process, ensuring operational success and encouraging complete transparency among users. This cloud-based solution is also available offline and can be used on any device.
