‘Knowledge is power’
Forest Hill PSWs anticipate training to expand skills
Tuesday, March 20, 2007 -- Natalie Miller
Often when nurses are tending to a resident, Beverley Berard is at the senior’s side, holding the resident’s hand and offering reassurance.

As a front-line worker, Berard says she has the chance to develop relationships with the residents in her care.

“It’s a little more personal,” Berard says of her role as a personal support worker (PSW) at Forest Hill in Kanata.

She says the residents are familiar with her, which establishes a level of trust. Berard is looking forward to expanding her skills so she can provide more support to residents. Berard has worked at Forest Hill for about six years in the environmental services and nursing departments.

“I wanted to do more than clean rooms,” she says, noting she took her PSW training and also other courses offered by OMNI. She’s keen on taking the upcoming training aimed at extending the duties of non-registered staff. Between April and May, there will be two-day training sessions offered at six sites in the province. Some of the basic nursing skills to be taught include checking for vital signs, applying prescription creams, monitoring blood sugar levels and continence assessment.

Berard says, for instance, it will be handy to learn how to take a resident’s blood pressure without having to call on a nurse. She’s also looking forward to learning more about wound care.

The decision to train non-registered staff – which includes PSWs, health care aides, nutritional care aides, housekeepers and activity aides – is in response to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s mandate to provide round-the-clock nurses at long-term care homes, Candace Chartier, OMNI's corporate project director, earlier told the OMNIway.

Chartier said she hopes the training sessions will result in non-registered staff being better prepared and more knowledgeable. Training non-registered staff to perform some of the duties normally assigned to registered staff will also provide nurses with more time to spend with residents, she said.

The training sessions – which are voluntary – have generated a lot of interest from the non-registered staff at Forest Hill, according to John Donzil, the long-term care home’s assistant director of care.

Tamara Strickland, a PSW at Forest Hill for four years, is also taking the training.

“The more knowledge and information we have the better we can take care of our residents,” Strickland says.

“Knowledge is power.”

Strickland, who previously worked in a group home that provided support to people with cerebral palsy, says she has experience in some of the duties normally assigned to nurses.

Being trained in additional responsibilities is helpful to the residents, Strickland says. For instance, care isn’t interrupted to call on another staff member. “We can meet their needs right then. It’s more of a comfort level for the residents.” She says since non-registered staff provide the hands-on support, like personal care and assistance with meals, it makes sense for the resident to be “at ease knowing the same person is taking care of all of their needs.” Strickland has taken advantage of other education including activity training and in-services. “I’m very grateful to have the opportunity to do this free of charge. It’s a great opportunity to better improve the quality of care for residents.”

At the end of the sessions, participants will be given certificates of completion. The first session will run April 4 to 5 in Aurora.