Caregiver training has been on my mind. At the Hurricane Marketing Boot Camp in June, several presentations talked about the importance of caregiver training and how to do better. You know it and you see it: a well-trained caregiver is confident and gives confidence to clients’ families that their loved ones are receiving excellent care in their home.
Although there are very few silver bullets in home care, a solid caregiver training might well be that rare gem with benefits galore.
Why train your caregivers?
On so many levels, investing in caregiver training is a smart business decision.
Granted training costs money. However it’s a good investment in your agency’s success. Across all industries, 26% employees leave their job because of lack of learning and development opportunity. It’s just the same in home care. Training is key to keep your employees working for you. If you have followed my articles, you knowing how expensive it is to lose caregivers.
Topics For Caregiver Training
The good news is caregivers want more training. If you don’t know where to start, ask your caregivers what skills they need to do the job. You might also ask what would help when working with their clients. This is a starting point to creating a curriculum specific to your agency. And don’t forget to let them know that you have used their feedback. That’s great for employee morale!
Home Care Pulse surveyed 36,000 caregivers and found the following topics are usually mentioned. Every type of training drives direct business benefits:
- Improve caregiver on-the-job performance with First Aid, CPR, wound care, blood pressure testing, medical response. Consider reaching out to the Red Cross to deliver those, A refresher on housekeeping and meal preparation is not a bad idea. Clients love a caregiver who can cook their favorite food. Could this help with client retention too?
- Improve caregiver professionalism with C.N.A. and certified Home Health Aid training as well as technology training such as learning more about computers such as the scheduling app and the care plan app.
- Develop your business with specialty care. Grow the knowledge of your staff on condition-specific care and specialty care such as Alzheimer’s, Dementia, Parkinson’s, COPD. The Alzheimer Association is big in the training arena. Check out their website and see what’s available in your area.
- Improve caregiver confidence with hands-on training or job shadowing of a more experienced caregiver. Job shadowing can be included as part on the on-boarding of new caregivers. Consider it as part of refresher training for all caregivers.
- Set your agency apart with caregivers as partners working with client families. This is not standard training in the industry and would certainly set your agency apart. Have you thought about training on how to work with clients’ families (children, spouse), how to care for couples, improve communication, sensitivity and compassion.
Agencies from around the country are working smarter to retain their caregivers with better training. Don’t be left behind. Contact me today to create your own caregiver recruitment and retention plan.
