Professional caregivers must follow policies and procedures such as arriving on-time to their caregiving work assignment, taking care plan notes, and following all necessary care duties and safety protocol. Home Caregivers, also called Home Care Aides or Home Health Aides, are expected to follow a basic job description of duties, Just as with all professional jobs.

Learn how to effectively communicate with seniors from different generations, individuals with Alzheimer disease and other types of dementia, and those with hearing difficulties and special needs.

Care Plan Notes

Learn proper caregiver skills for observing, reporting, and documenting daily activities, along with legal requirements and guidelines for subjective and objective notes regarding changes in the functional ability and mental status of the client.

Personal Care

Learn how to safely and kindly assist senior clients and those with memory loss to take care of daily activities including bathing, skincare, hair care, mouth care, dressing, feeding, assistance with ambulation, exercise and transfers, positioning, toileting, and medication reminders.

Personal Care Part 2: Hair, Skin, Mouth Care, and Shaving

Learn personal care tasks skills for senior clients, including: hair care, skin care, nail care, shaving, and mouth care.

Bedbound Care

Bedsores or pressure ulcers develop when there is too much pressure on the skin, and are more common in bedridden patients. Safe bed care and repositioning can minimize the chance of bedsores. Learn daily exercise techniques to benefit bedridden clients.

Assistance with Ambulation and Transportation

Safe adaptive equipment used for assisting clients with transfers from bed to chair to toilet to showers and in and out of wheelchairs. Learn types of transfers and devices used along with requirements for each device. Consider the Best and Safest Form of Transportation to Destination

Positioning, Lifting, Hoyer, and Safe transfers

Learn how to safely manage a transfer using a specialized Hoyer lift and to reposition after transferring.

Hygiene, Infection Control, Infectious Diseases, Influenza

Learn how to maintain good hygiene for both the senior client and caregiver and safely protect yourself and control infections. How to wash hands, use gloves properly, protect your face and body, and assist seniors with good daily hygiene. Learn about the flu, how to protect yourself, those you care for, and recognize symptoms.

Cleanliness

Learn standards for maintaining a clean and healthy environment for your senior client and for everyone visiting and caring for them by using the proper products and following a scheduled cleaning routine based on care needs.

Safety

Learn basic precautions for personal and environmental safety, including procedures to follow to protect both yourself and your senior client.

Understanding Use of Restrains

Learn about the different types of restraints: Physical Restraints, Chemical Restraints, Seclusion and Alternatives to using restraints. Risk reduction and culture around appropriate use.

Emergency Preparedness and First Aid

Learn what emergencies require, basic first aid, such as cuts and burns, and what do when they happen. Learn what events are considered natural disasters and how to create and follow an emergency preparedness plan to protect yourself and your client. Understand environmental safety precautions for homes and when working at senior care facilities.

HIPAA part I

Understand confidentiality requirements for personal, financial and health information and the specifics of HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and Who and What it is for as a caregiver. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 defines Covered Entities (CEs) and Business Associates (BAs). Find out more in this section. HiTech Act was an effort to speed up the transfer to electronic health records and put in place rules on how to safeguard the information.

HIPAA Part 2

HIPAA law and what it covers can be confusing. In this section, we will give specific scenarios to help you understand what is a violation and what isn’t. If you are ever in doubt about sharing information, it is always best to be more cautious.

Medication Self-Administration Procedures and Dysphagia

Medications may be monitored by senior caregivers, which means following the prescribed medication protocol when seniors are to take pre-arranged medications and confirming the medication has been swallowed or placed on the skin as directed.

Sometimes seniors with memory loss or other conditions may become resistant to taking medications. Learn how to effectively monitor medications and professionally manage issues around medication resistance. It is important to know how to properly monitor medication self-administration.

Elder Abuse and Neglect

Learn the types of abuse and neglect, legal requirements for reporting (and legal punishments for not reporting), and how to protect your senior client and yourself from physical, emotional, sexual, and financial abuse.

How the Heart Beats and Lungs Breathe

Overview of the anatomy of the cardiovascular system and respiratory system and conditions seniors may frequently experience as these systems experience aging.

Alzheimer Disease

Alzheimer Disease is one type of memory loss with a set of symptoms and treatments which are separate from other types of memory loss.

Safety in the Home

Creating a safe home environment is very important as Alzheimer progresses.

Dealing with Challenging Behaviors

Managing patients with Alzheimer Disease and Dementia can create difficult challenges for the caregiver. Most importantly, as a caregiver, you must remember to stay calm and reassuring.

Harassment Defined

Verbal or physical conduct that shows hostility towards someone defines harassment. Learn how to understand and identify harassment.

Positive Behaviors, Responses

All employees should contribute to a positive environment and understand how to both support others and identify and report inappropriate behavior. Part of building a positive environment requires learning acceptable behavior and understanding what can be taken the wrong way. Take a look at the hypothetical sexual harassment scenarios.

Defining Bystander Intervention

Learn when to intervene in situations that are potentially harmful or there is a risk of sexual harassment to another and how to safely help the person.