Staff who work in senior care, from nurses to the dining services team, require the knowledge, skills — and often the licensing and certification — to do their jobs well and provide the best care for residents in senior living communities.
Continuing education is usually state-mandated for most direct care and clinical staff, but facility-specific training is often required as well. In addition, there is a growing focus from both the public and government on issues ranging from staffing levels to certifications, which makes finding the right senior care training courses for your staff crucial.
What to consider when choosing good senior care training courses for your team
Three key factors go into choosing senior care training courses quality of the courses, convenience and accessibility, and outcome.
Keep in mind that training falls into two categories. There’s training that is a requirement to stay in a position (training to keep your license current) and training that’s for professional development or career advancement.
Required training can feel forced and frustrate staff, especially if they’ve been working in their position for many years. They may feel like recertifying in CPR or completing their annual trainings isn’t the best use of their time. But there are real advantages to ongoing training beyond requirement or job competency.
Training keeps staff members current with industry changes, whether that’s new technologies, new regulations, or changes in best practice. In addition, when the training offered is beyond-the-basics, it benefits your team because it enhances their knowledge base and helps them grow. Leadership and management training, for instance, can give your organization an internal pool of talent to tap into when a position becomes available. It fosters an inclusive culture in which people are trained so they can advance their careers, and helps with employee retention and satisfaction.
Of course, in order for things to play out this way, you need to find the best senior care training courses.
Quality of senior care training courses
Beyond meeting state and federal requirements for content, the senior care training courses you choose need to ensure that your team is also learning new things. They should ensure that staff are learning to provide consistently safe, high-quality service to seniors in all levels of care.
One way to screen for this is to see if the course is approved by the National Association of Long Term Care Administrator Boards (NAB). At SLU, most of our administrator and department manager courses, as well as our Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care course, have been approved by NAB. While many think of CEUs when they think of NAB courses, which is true, it also shows that the courses are high level and meet the standards set forth in the industry by NAB.
Another way to determine the quality of the course is to research the instructor’s experience or review the qualifications of the course material’s designer. Someone with a professional background in the field will know the subject matter and will know how to structure it for those working in the field. They can ensure that it is relevant and engaging and applies to your team.
Finally, is the course customizable? The best quality senior care training courses for your team are the ones that will meet their individual needs and your needs as a community.
Convenience and accessibility of senior care training courses
Given that senior care communities require staffing 24/7, any training course offered to your team must be available at a variety of times. For instance, monthly trainings should be scheduled so that team members from each shift can attend. This might take a little creativity and flexibility on the part trainer, but it is crucial to make sure that everyone is receiving the training they need.
In addition, the trainer should have instructor guides to help them with the course and its materials.
Online courses, that are self-guided, offer incredible convenience and flexibility. It doesn’t matter which shift your team member works, as long as they have a computer, smartphone or tablet available. Depending on the parameters you set up, staff can even access the courses at home. For instance, at SeniorLivingU we offer our Anytime Portal, a state-of-the-art learning management system (LMS) for maximum availability to our senior care training courses. It allows team members to complete trainings when they have time and doesn’t require an in-person trainer to be present.
While there are courses that have in-person components, these days remote and online training is increasingly common and a great option.
For team members that are more traditional and less technology savvy, you can check to see if the online training has supplemental materials like textbooks and manuals. Again, the goal is convenience and accessibility, for ALL team members taking the senior care training course.
What outcome should you expect from senior care training courses?
Whether its care based, awareness, risk management, safety, or crisis communication, at the end of the senior care training course staff should be able to demonstrate specific skills and knowledge. This means the course you choose should have an exam, or some other way of evaluating their knowledge.
If the courses are certified, then the certificate should come as soon as the exam is passed. There should also be an easy way to report the training or certification to any regulating agencies that requires the information.
A less tangible, but just as important outcome, is that your team is now aligned and equipped with the same set of skills and knowledge. This is because they all went through a great senior care training course. They are now, individually and collectively, more able to provide better senior care.
Experts in training for assisted living communities
Designed by senior living experts, SeniorLivingU provides convenient education tools for all levels of retirement community staff. Our products cover a wide range of topics in formats designed to meet your needs (manuals, DVDs, and online learning through the Anytime Learning Portal.)
To learn more, visit our FAQ page or contact us today.
