Alzheimer and Dementia Elderly Care Training
Tips for Elderly Care
Caregiving is not a role for just anyone. Dedicating your life to helping others is an honorable vocation, but it has many challenges. Professional caregivers undergo hours of training to prepare for the job’s demands. But hard skills – technical knowledge – are only half of the equation when it comes to being a good caregiver. Great caregivers embody certain soft skills that enable them to excel in their profession. Soft skills are character traits and interpersonal skills that describe who you are, not what you know. Unlike hard skills, you don’t typically learn soft skills in a classroom; they are part of your personality. Caregivers require a special set of soft skills or personality traits, as this article outlines. If you’re looking for a professional caregiver for a senior parent, keep these ideal caregiver qualities in mind.
If you’re currently a student, a recent graduate, or even someone who is looking for a way to break into the field of elder care, you probably see it as an exciting and rewarding career path. But what does it take to be successful working with the elderly on a day-to-day basis? Being an elder care professional can be extremely challenging, but also rewarding. It involves caring for people who may have various needs and require additional assistance in their day-to-day lives. Becoming an elder care professional requires extensive training and experience working with older adults. Fortunately, there are many ways you can prepare yourself for a career in this amazing field. The tips below will help you get started on your journey to becoming an elder care professional:
Patience
Patience is one of the most important qualities of a good caregiver. Seniors may take longer to complete daily tasks and, depending on their cognitive abilities, may ask repetitive questions or forget what they were trying to do entirely. It can be easy to get frustrated, but great caregivers patiently wait, answer the same questions, or repeat themselves as needed.
Compassionate
Compassionate caregivers are understanding and empathetic. Caregivers should be compassionate because the people they care for are often in vulnerable positions and may be going through difficult experiences. A compassionate caregiver can provide emotional support and comfort as the person they’re caring for deals with daily challenges, such as declining health or disabilities.
Dependable
When older adults rely on someone else to help them perform activities of daily living (ADLs), canceling on them is not an option. One of the benefits of working with a home care agency is they always have a professional caregiver available to cover absences, ensuring your loved one never goes a day without proper care.
Confident
Another caregiver trait is confidence. Caregivers must be confident in the services they provide. Competence and confidence go hand in hand. One study showed that higher scores in caregiver preparedness were associated with higher scores in caregiver confidence. Confident caregivers are ready for whatever comes their way during the day, reassuring older adults that they are in good hands.
Trustworthy
One of the best caregiver qualities that families of older adults look for is trustworthiness. Caregivers are invited into seniors’ homes and have access to all of their personal belongings and information. Family members want to know their loved ones aren’t being taken advantage of. This is one reason you may want to consider working with a professional home care agency instead of an independent caregiver.
Professional
Caregivers hold a very important position in the life of senior citizens, and the role shouldn’t be taken lightly. Professional caregivers take their jobs seriously and are fully capable of helping seniors who have varying needs. While they need to respect those, they care for and maintain professionalism, being professional doesn’t mean caregivers can’t build friendly relationships with those in their care, as we’ll see next.
Friendly
Professionalism is necessary, but you don’t want your loved one’s caregiver to be unfriendly or cold. You want someone who your parent feels comfortable with since they’ll be spending a lot of time together. Great caregivers have a healthy balance between being professional and personable. They take time to get to know your family and kindly care for your aging parent while conducting themself in a professional manner.
Communication
Effective communication can help build satisfying relationships with older patients to best manage their care. It can strengthen the patient-provider relationship, lead to improved health outcomes, help prevent medical errors, and make the most of limited interaction time.
At 1Care, we are committed to delivering the highest quality training for our Health Care Workers.
At 1Care, we offer Caregiver Training with specialized focused training on Alzheimer and Dementia support, while our partner, Robert Sobukwe Nursing Academy, ensures that the training standard is of high quality.
The Robert Sobukwe Nursing Academy is a registered company with CIPC, with Registration Number 2021/364896/07. Offering SAIOSH Verified courses, training and skills development for a wide variety of study fields in the Health Care Sector. Robert Sobukwe Nursing Academy is registered with the South African Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (SAIOSH).
SAIOSH is recognized by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) as a professional body to register Occupational Health and Safety Professionals in South Africa in terms of the NQF Act, Act 67 of 2008.SAIOSH is today the largest Occupational Health and Safety professional body in Africa and the leading source of information and networking opportunities within the Occupational Health and Safety profession in South Africa, and busy with their accreditation application process with QCTO, and in the process of applying with SANC for the Higher Certificate: Auxiliary Nursing and National Diploma in Nursing. Robert Sobukwe Nursing Academy is accredited with the Education, Training and Development Practices Sector Education and Training Authority (ETDP SETA) to offer the Full Qualification in Community Development: Youth and also the National Certificate: Occupationally Directed Education, Training and Development Practices.
Alzheimer and Dementia Elderly Care Training at 1Care
Building trust with you and your family
1Care's Alzheimer and Dementia Elderly Care Training is a program designed specifically to help people who work with elderly people to become qualified to provide elder care services. In order to qualify for certification, candidates need to pass a series of tests covering topics including gerontology, mental health, nutrition, physical health, and social issues. Candidates must also complete at least 320 hours of supervised practice under the supervision of a registered SANC professional.
We require elderly care services for a number of reasons. First, an increasing number of people will require assistance with daily activities as our population ages. Second, senior living facilities will see an increase in demand as the baby boom generation ages. Thirdly, the number of people in need of long-term care will rise as our population continues to live longer. Fourth, more people will be able to pay for elder care services as our economy improves. Lastly, there will be an even greater demand for elder care services as our population grows more diverse. For the best elder care, we need professionals who have completed training in elder care.
Alzheimer and Dementia Elderly Care Training Curriculum
This Alzheimer and Dementia Elderly Care Training Curriculum was created in the hopes of offering a comprehensive and practical training on understanding and caring for persons with Alzheimer and Dementia. This course was compiled to educate as many people as possible, because we live in a world with an increasing number of people with Alzheimer and Dementia and we know that the more you understand Alzheimer and Dementia, the better you can care for people with Alzheimer and Dementia.
Course Modules
Module 1: Professional Practice and Ethics
• Ethical Practices in Health Care • Client rights/patients’ bill of rights • Caregiver rights • Confidentiality • Adult and Child abuse • Ethical characteristics of a Health Care Practitioner • The importance of creating your self-image • Communication and statement writing • Cultural awareness, sensitivity and safety • Advance Directives/Durable Power of Attorney
Module 2: Nutrition and Food Preparation
• Describe and explain basic concepts of nutrition and hydration. • Explain the importance of observing consumer rights in regard to food preferences. • Describe basic principles of menu planning and explain how to read food labels. • Identify and explain food safety techniques for preparing and storing food. • Describe special diets. • Explain what a Balanced Diet is • Understand and apply personal values and ethics
Module 3: Geriatric Care and Psychology
• Body Systems: The functions, changes with aging, care implications and conditions. • Physical disabilities and conditions: the brain and nervous system. • Psychological and emotional conditions. • Sexuality and disability. • Grief and End-Of-Life Issues.
Module 4: Alzheimer and Dementia Care
• The types and stages of dementia. • Importance of activities. • Managing difficult behaviors, and safety issues. • Identify and describe the activities of daily living issues related to dementia-specific care and personal care skills as they relate to dementia-specific care. • Describe how an irreversible dementia, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), affects a person's memory, language, movement and speech. • Distinguish between different types of dementia and the symptoms associated with each type. • Identify the characteristics of each phase of AD, from the mild phase to the severe phase. • Discuss treatment of Alzheimer's disease and related problems.
Module 5: Practical Procedures
• Give examples of techniques that can be used to promote independence and respect a person’s preferences (for example, at mealtimes). • Identify resources to identify an individual’s mealtime needs. • Identify characteristics of people at risk for choking. • Identify choking prevention measures a health care practitioner/health care worker can use during mealtime. • Give examples of techniques that can be used to preserve dignity and privacy while providing personal care. • List risk factors for skin breakdown. • Explain the importance of repositioning and list techniques for preventing skin damage and pressure ulcers. • Identify and describe common assistive devices, including gait belt, walkers and wheelchairs. • Explain the importance of proper transfer skills and the safe use of assistive devices. • Identify issues related to helping with bathing and using the bathroom. • Describe and role-play techniques for positioning and transferring a person. • Use of gait belt. • Assistance with ambulation (with/without assistive devices). • Prepare written documentation following documentation guidelines. • Identify components of stress. • Identify and describe causes, effects and indicators of stress. • Describe appropriate coping strategies. • Explain the importance of time management. • Identify and describe techniques for prioritizing duties and developing a work schedule.
Module 5: Practical Procedures Continue
• Techniques for positioning a person in bed. • Techniques for positioning a person in a wheelchair. • Transfer in and out of a wheelchair (with or without assistive devices). • Transfer out of bed (sofa). • Simulate/role-play or describe assistance with ADLs. • Assistance with dressing. • Assistance with meals (total assistance/feeding, and prompting, hand-over-hand assistance). • Assistance with brushing teeth. • Identify and explain the basic principles and purpose of activities for clients. • Describe the importance of client rights and cultural or religious issues in regard to activity planning. • Identify examples of activities suitable for clients with specific disabilities. • Explain the purpose of reporting and documentation. • Describe the purpose of care and support plans. • Explain the importance of observing changes in a person and describe observation techniques. • Identify and explain signs and symptoms that need to be reported. • Describe and explain the importance of an emergency plan. • Describe and explain the principles of environmental, fire, and medical emergency procedures. • Identify and explain safety techniques for caregiver/health care worker. • Explain the use of a fire extinguisher. • Explain the term boundaries and relate it to professional standards. • Give examples of guidelines for professional boundaries. • List safety tips.
Course Cost, Requirements and Duration
Cost
Requirements
Duration
Practical will be completed at an Old Age Home or Frail Care Centre