Certification for Caregivers offers increased confidence and marketability

I'm really excited to be able to share some new happenings here at the Institute for Professional Care Education (IPCed).  We've just launched our newest series of courses, especially designed for in-home caregivers.  They're a set of Caregiver Certifications, from our most basic (called Caregiver Core) all the way to our 4th level certification, the Home Health Aide course.  Completing this last level of online certifications gives the worker everything he or she needs to become a Certified Home Health Aide except the required 16 hours of supervised practical training (we call it "clinicals").  For that last component, we have all the material to certify instructors and provide them with their Instructor Guide so that they can supervise and sign off on the required skills for the worker. 

Why is this such an exciting program for us and for our clients?

Because caregiver training matters.  It matter to the caregiver - giving them a greater sense of pride and commitment to the company and client. 

It matters to the home care agency - giving them some important material to share with prospective clients and referral sources about their commitment to quality care.

It matters to the consumer - giving them the assurance that they can place their trust in an agency and their caregivers during a time when their need is high and their anxiety is often higher.

It matters to us - giving us yet another vehicle to fulfill our mission of enhancing quality of care through quality training. 

And it's a perfect fit with our motto:

Passionate about training - passionate about quality.  That's IPCed.

To learn more about our Caregiver Certification programs contact a Training Specialist today at 877-843-8374. 

Training is Sometimes a Laughing Matter

At a fire safety seminar, employees gathered around the live demonstration area to watch the fire officer teach the proper way to operate a fire extinguisher. Barking out instructions like a drill sergeant, the fire officer yelled, "Pull the pin like a hand grenade. Then, aiming at the base of the fire, depress the trigger to release the extinguishing agent."

The fire officer demonstrated a few times and then picked from the group an employee to extinguish a controlled fire. The employee was nervous. He fumbled with the fire extinguisher, forgetting to pull the pin. He squeezed the lever. Nothing happened.

"Like a hand grenade," the fire officer hollered. "Remember? Like a hand grenade."

The employee remembered. In a burst of confidence, he quickly pulled the pin...

And heaved the extinguisher at the fire.

[Source: Training and Leadership blog: http://www.safetyxchange.org/training-and-leadership/joke-week-3]

This is a cute story, true or not.

It reminds me of another story (only too true) that I heard many years ago when I was working at a school for developmentally disabled adults. Their sex-ed teacher (whom I was replacing) had been demonstrating the proper way to apply a condom, using a couple of fingers held together to illustrate the point to the students. Students were reportedly feeling fully protected for sexual activities by wearing condoms over their fingers. I was feeling way out of my element in trying to figure out a better way to teach basic safe sex!

The moral of both of these stories? Training must be contextual to be most useful. We can discuss concepts and give demonstrations, but until the person actually uses the concept in a real-life situation – appropriately and correctly – true learning won’t occur.

For training managers using online training resources like aQuire, the value of blended learning becomes apparent. Online learning is extremely valuable to help the person understand theories, concepts and approaches, but until he actually holds the fire extinguisher in his hands, he won’t really know how it feels (I’m going to leave the other story illustration alone here).

For best learning and retention of concepts, take the time to discuss with your team members what they’re learning online. If you have group meetings, talk about how concepts or classes apply to specific residents. Chat for just a minute or two with individual employees about their online classes and how they apply to residents or clients. Ask if they have questions, and what new ideas they’ve been learning.

Engage them in active learning as an integral part of their work – that’s how a company becomes known as a place where learning and growth is valued and meaningful.
Oh, and send me your stories. Beat mine, and I’ll buy you lunch!

Three Ideas for Creative, Low-Cost Marketing

Marketing is the global term we use to mean growing our business. Often, we’re content (and, let’s be honest, a little relieved) to let the marketing people worry about marketing. It’s their job, and, if they’re good at it, it happens without a lot of your sweat and focus.

In this economy, however, marketing is probably moving to front and center stage in your organization. And that affects everyone.

It affects you, when you don’t have the revenue to cover the expenses.

It affects your team, when hours are cut or positions eliminated.

It affects your clients, as they see a few less people on the team to serve them, and maybe even feel the stress you and your team are feeling.

That’s the problem – what’s the solution?

Experts from every corner agree: a bad economy is NOT the time to stop marketing. In fact, it’s vital that during this economy, marketing gets even more of your focus. You’ve got to really focus on what will do you the most good, in the short term as you keep your head above water, and in the longer term, as you strengthen your foundation to grow and thrive once the economy turns around.

How can you creatively grow your marketing program without spending a dime?

Focus on Customer Service. We’ve heard from many of our clients that customer service is one of their primary focus areas for this year. Making sure that every employee understands that he or she is a part of the marketing team by providing excellent customer service is an essential part of your marketing plan – and it doesn’t need to be a costly part, either. Spend time every week focusing on developing your team’s skills in this area, and you’ll see results.

Provide a service to caregiving families in your community. Many families are turning to their own family members to provide care, especially in areas with high unemployment. You can help, and establish yourself as the expert in caregiving at the same time (the one they’ll turn to when they need help). Offer classes in caregiving, a telephone advice line or articles for publication in your local paper. Provide a support group with guest speakers each month, and publicize it widely in the newspapers and on local radio (all free as public service announcements). It won’t cost much more than your time, and can give you big returns.

Look for new revenue sources. One idea a client of ours is using is to provide caregiver training for individuals in her community. This training could be offered to family caregivers or to individuals looking to become caregivers, as well as home care agencies or assisted living facilities. Use our online Personal Care Aide Certification course, add a two to six hour skills training class, and you’ll be able to provide a comprehensive program to prepare others to provide care – while you build relationships and your reputation. Bundle it carefully and you can even gain a new revenue source to help tide you over (ask us for details).

Be brave, be bold. Get out there and market your business for success!

Send me your creative marketing ideas and I’ll pass them on – sharon@aquiretraining.com.

Caring for your Caregivers

Have you visited the American Health Care Association’s webpage called Caring for our Caregivers?  It’s packed with resources to help you build a stronger team, including resources for reward and recognition, employee development, employee satisfaction, leadership, recruitment and retention.  They’re all free and readily accessible – and worth your time to give it a quick check.

Did you know that the Gallup Organization found that employees who are highly engaged yield customers who are highly engaged – and together, they have the potential to triple your bottom line results? 

And did you know that helping your employees improve their skills by offering continual opportunities for training and growth is one key component in engaging your team?

Focus on your team and you’ll see bottom line results. 

To learn how aQuire can help you build your team contact us today at info@aquiretraining.com. 

Training iPhone Style

So how’s your training going?

That’s a question that Bersin and Associates, a company with over 25 years experience in corporate solutions, training, and e-learning asked of the largest companies in America.

The answer was just a little surprising. Bersin found that organizations in the U.S. will spend around $817 million on their learning management systems (LMS) in 2009, a growth of about 115% in just the past 5 years. Especially in a challenging economy, this continuing growth is significant. According to 1,300 surveyed HR professionals, the “LMS is one of the most important software systems in a company’s HR infrastructure, ranking behind only their payroll and HRMS system.” You can read more here.

While these major companies have found that they depend on their learning management systems to help them deliver quality, consistent training throughout their entire workforce, one area most are looking for is increased collaboration and information sharing.

One solution aligns perfectly with a new program we’ve been developing right here at aQuire: a system that allows all training professionals to “upload and share any form of information or training with colleagues.” The telecommunications company currently implementing this found exactly what we’re creating: a way to have new content developed “rapidly and continuously,” while the community of users monitors the quality and provides feedback to “self-police.”

It seems to be the best of both worlds. You can gain the content our team of experts has developed to train your team, but you can also share some of the extensive in-house training programs you’ve developed with our community of learners.

This sharing of ideas, knowledge, skills and information isn’t new in our shop; lots of computer programs are now being developed as “shareware” open to the public. The iPhone app store is probably the most popular current example of this: many hundreds of free applications allow iPhone users to find their car, map their routes, check the dictionary, follow weather globally, locate a great restaurant, view movie trailers, and even check to see if a picture is level.

It’s time to start open collaboration and sharing with learning, too, especially within client groups or related organizations.

So when someone asks you, “How’s your training going?” you can answer honestly, “There’s always something new and interesting happening with our training program.”

Want to get in on the fun? Contact an aQuire Account Representative today for details.

Online Education

Several years ago my daughter took Health 11 online from Brigham Young University’s high school online program. We weren’t into home-schooling; she just didn’t want to miss her dance classes and had a scheduling conflict. I think it was the only “B” she got that term, too – the course was very rigorous.

Today, online education is one of the fastest growing segments of education in general – and education is, along with healthcare, one of the few healthy sectors in our economy.

What’s going on?

Simply this: online education makes good sense. It is increasingly accessible and affordable, and it offers individuals an opportunity to grow and achieve without the customary barriers to higher education like time and location.

Our staff here at aQuire Training Solutions is busier than ever, as new clients contact us, ready to get started – without the traditional need for a sales pitch from our team. They know that, to stay competitive, they need to offer training opportunities to their employees. They are hiring the best and brightest they can find, but realizing that to keep those people engaged and on board they’ll need to provide a competitive set of benefits, including continued learning and growth opportunities.

At the same time, companies are looking for ways to reduce any unnecessary expenses. Adding online training is helping them cut instructor time, freeing up that valuable resource for client relationship building, marketing and more efficient management.

They’re cutting down overtime and worker’s comp claims by increasing the level of employee engagement, knowledge and skills.

They’re achieving benefits that, today, are essential for business health.

In 2009, US News and World Reports (read here) noted this trend, saying:

“Time-stressed Americans fed up with commuting costs are already choosing online education. More than 4 million enrolled in at least one online course last fall, up from fewer than 2 million in 2003.”

Typical recession behavior tends to find business operators digging in; avoiding starting new programs or services.

This recession seems to be different. Successful operators are carefully examining how they run their company. They’re looking at their highest wage-earning employee’s use of time, and focusing that time on activities that bring the most benefit – short and long-term – to the company.

That’s keeping our team busier than we’ve ever been. Mind you, I’m not complaining!

Compassion Fatigue - are we losing our best and brightest to this?

Science Daily ran a news story about compassion fatigue a couple years ago, and I still think of it today (read it here).

The story details the challenges that health care professionals who care for severely ill, dying individuals experience.

The term compassion fatigue was first coined in the 1990s to describe a syndrome experienced by a healthcare provider caring for individuals facing dire consequences as a result of their disease. Going beyond empathy or "feeling bad" for the person, it effects the nurse, doctor or other member of the healthcare team in a way that he or she often develops a distance from the patient as a way of self-protection.

Symptoms of compassion fatigue include chronic tiredness and irritability, lack of joy in life, engagement in behaviors which are fine in moderation, such as drinking, at a destructive level. Like individuals who have post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), those with compassion fatigue often re-experience the deaths of their patients, according to Dr. Carney Doebbeling.

Compassion fatigue can lead individuals to protect or insulate themselves by loss of compassion, cynicism, boredom, decreased productivity, more sick days and ultimately higher turnover.

In my early days training senior care staff, we used to talk about the one certainty we face as senior care professionals: every one of our clients will die. Some quickly; some after many years in our care. But they will all, eventually, die.

That fact makes us all ripe for compassion fatigue. Perhaps it explains, at least a little, the high rate of turnover that is endemic to our profession.

There are simple things we can do to support people who may be in the grip of compassion fatigue:

• Send a card or flowers to a caregiver you know.
• Volunteer your time to give a caregiver a break…Even a “How you doin’?” can lift the spirits.
• Give a hand-written card. 
• Say “hi” and “thank-you” to team members.

As leaders and decision-makers, we’re often out of the daily grind that breeds this depth of fatigue. But we’re in the perfect position to support these individuals; to recognize that caring, with compassion, takes a toll.

These simple things may be unexpected, and all the more powerful to lift the spirits and lighten the psychological load of the most important members of our team: the compassion-filled caregivers.