Course Descriptions

• Up-to-date statistics
• How to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS
• Understanding HIV/AIDS and how it affects the body
• Learn the difference between HIV and AIDS
• Understanding the psychosocial aspects of the disease
• Understanding post exposure prophylaxis

• deals with communication with the cognitively declined
• normal memory loss

• deals with how the diagnosis is made
• medications and treatment
• combative residents and effective redirection
• assistance with all ADL's
• supporting the family

• The Florida DNRO form and procedures
• Completing the forms for a living will and designation of a health care surrogate
• The purpose of the DNRO for a hospice patient

• Compare Alzheimer’s Disease to normal forgetfulness
• Name the 3 stages and at least 6 symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease
• Describe at least 3 ways to meet the personal care needs of Alzheimer’s patients
• Describe at least 3 ways to meet the nutritional needs of Alzheimer’s patients
• Describe at least 3 ways to meet the emotional needs of Alzheimer’s patients
• Demonstrate at least 3 effective strategies for communicating with Alzheimer’s patients

• Understanding the signs and symptoms of dementia
• Practical suggestions for caring for the dementia patient
• Defining Alzheimer’s disease
• Caring specifically for the Alzheimer’s patient

• Games people play using anger
• The Irritability Scale
• Aggression Behavior is not Assertive Behavior
• "I" statements, Communications, and Questions to ask yourself
• Using anger effectively, and ending Anger

• The different funding sources for hospice patient care
• How the nursing facility is reimbursed for a hospice patient
• Pass-through and other fiduciary transactions
• Rules and guidelines for payment
• The benefit to the facility and to hospice for a contract bed

• Provide the CNA with normal and abnormal paramers in vital signs
• Importance of alerting supervisors immediately of changes
• Other parameters such as pain, level of consciousness, nutrition, GI, GU, skin, activity and safety issues

• Understand the value of our differences
• Learn to celebrate differences
• Feel valued
• Build bridges/establish common ground
• Increased understanding/mutual growth

• Attitude and its role in providing good customer service
• The many different customers you serve
• Techniques for handling difficult customers and situations
• Ways to improve your communication skills
• How to increase your personal and professional satisfaction
• Customer service and its role in building a strong team and organization

• Difference in cultural perceptions
• Effective communication
• Four steps to greater awareness of how to relate to others
• Respecting yourself strong team and organization

• Effective reporting and documenting information about the client
• What a report should include
• How to make observations both subjective and objective
• How to make documentation complete and consistent
• Why documentation must be neat and legible, accurate, and done in a timely manner
• How poor documentation can cause legal problems and how to protect themselves from this

• Role of Hospice in end of life care for patients in facilities
• Palliative care and documentation
• Palliative goals and care planning
• Assessment and intervention
• Patient rights
• Documentation of pain
• Avoiding documentation errors

• What defines Domestic Violence
• Relationships based on equality or on power and control
• The "Cycle of Violence"
• Identify potential victims and perpetrators of domestic violence
• Screening procedures for determining history of domestic violence
• Appropriate interventions in domestic violence; support, education and referrals

• The signs and symptoms of abuse and neglect
• How to report suspected abuse or neglect
• Protecting yourself from being charged with abuse or neglect
• Emotional, financial, physical and other types of abuse

• To better manage patients who suffer from constipation, diarrhea, & incontinence
• Risk factors of urinary incontinence
• Bowel retraining

• Your role in the dying process
• The two top fears of the dying patient
• The importance of choices
• How to better respond to patient and families

• Basic bioethical principles
• Two ethical dilemmas frequently experienced by care providers
• Three steps in the ethics committee process for making recommendations
• The Ethics Committee Model
• Decision-making for patient in a persistent vegetative state
• Issues that often arise in the healthcare environment

• Which patients are at a high risk for falls
• How caregivers can help keep high-risk patients safe
• what we can do to help prevent bone-breaking falls

• The different theories of grief
• The two stages of grief
• Learn to achieve positive “Grief Work”
• Responses of the Hospice staff, which can assist families
• The bereavement services provided by Hospice By The Sea

• Understand the meaning of HIPAA
• Reasons HIPAA is important
• The importance of complying with the law
• Patient’s new rights in managing their health information
• The role of each healthcare employee
  l Possible consequences of breaking the law

• Define HIV/AIDS
• List three ways to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS
• The difference between HIV positive and having AIDS
• The two main blood tests for AIDS
• Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP)
• The psychosocial aspects of the disease

• The history of hospice
• The concept of palliative care
• Federal and state guidelines for service under the hospice benefit
• Methods of referral to hospice
• Importance of timely referrals
• The interdisciplinary team
• Criteria for admission to hospice

• Zensational thinking!
• The 8 steps to enlightenment
• That stressed is desserts spelled backwards
• Using humor to get desserts
• That Bizarre is Beautiful and Weird is Wonderful
• The benefits of Joy

• Contract beds and the benefits to the skilled nursing facility
• Contract beds and the benefits for hospitals
• How patients are admitted into a contract bed
• Routine hospice “home care” in a SNF and a hospital
• What hospice provides - physician visit, nursing visit, hospice care plan, social worker, spiritual counselor, DME

• Burdens and benefits of nutrition in end of life
• The decreasing need for food and fluids as death approaches
• Human physiology regarding nutrition and the dying process
• Strategies to address family concerns about nutrition
• Common problems with artificial feeding
• Interventions to deal with nutritional symptoms in the dying patient
• Palliative care planning regarding nutritional issues

• Understand changes in nutrition that commonly occur
• Terminal dehydration
• The benefits and burdens of artificial feeding
• Dysphagia -- its causes and consequences
• Feeding techniques to maximize nutrition

• Acute and chronic pain
• Principles of pain assessment
• The concept of total pain
• Utilization of pain rating scales
• Palliative therapies
• Minimizing negative effects of interventions
• Social consequences of untreated pain

• The WHO Analgesic Ladder
• Addiction, pseudo-addiction & tolerance
• Principles of pain management in the terminally ill
• Routes of administration
• Tolerance
• Misunderstood drugs in palliative care
• Side effects of pain medication

• A personalized approach to office management
• How to improve patient interactions
• Patient expectations about compassion, courtesy and communication
• Present and attentive communication style
• Daily expectations and challenges
• Handling the stressors of daily office life
• Evaluating your approach, values and style of interaction with patient

• Explain the purpose of having a patient bill of rights
• Discuss at least four main patient rights
• Describe the patient responsibilities that go along with each patient right
• Demonstrate your support of patients rights in your daily work

• Help CNAs understand how and why pressure ulcers develop
• How ulcers can be prevented
• How immobility, incontinence, poor diet, and inability to communicate can lead to skin breakdown

• Factors that impact the occurrence of medical errors
• Understand special circumstances for safety precautions for different populations
• Reporting an occurrence involving patient safety

• Introduce the concept of Reminiscence and Life Review to patients/residents, families and friends
• Identify at least two persons who would benefit from reminiscence activities
• Describe three techniques of conducting reminiscence
• Give two examples of open-ended questions
• Develop a plan for conducting life review with selected participants, including patients/residents

• Understanding the use of physical and chemical restraints
• Learn how patients rights affect the use of restraints
• Identify problems caused by restraints
• Promote bed safety & explore alternatives to restraints

• Palliative interventions for symptoms of terminal illness
• Symptoms other than pain of terminal patients
• The three symptoms of approaching death
• Palliative goals for care planning
• Methods of emotionally supporting patients and families
• Burdens of tube feedings, I.V.’s and TPN
• Positive interventions

• Learn the role of the Chaplain
• The purpose of spiritual assessment
• The twin goals of spiritual care for the patient and the family.
• Spiritual issues of the terminally ill
  
  Stress Management
• Definition of stress
• Perceptions and personalities
• Cognitive behavior approaches to stress management
• Alternative approaches to stress management
• Gender differences in stress management
• Burnout

• Palliative Care
• Symptoms common to terminal illnesses
• Palliative interventions for symptom management in terminal illnesses
• Care planning and palliative care goals
• Symptoms, other than pain, of the terminal patient
• Signs of approaching death
• Final processes

• Learn the benefits of Time Management skills
• Recognize major time wasters
• Learn practical ways to save time and decrease stress
• Organize your work life and your personal life

• Prevention progression
• How to prevent breakdown
• The Braden Scale for pressure sores
• Terms
• Staging of wounds
• Treatment of wounds