Acute care leaders provide required workplace training to health care support workers and provide support to care teams, patients and families.
As part of the Health Care Access Program, acute care leaders provide workplace orientation and training for their health care support workers before they begin their formal educational training.
Training and orientation for your worksite care team, patients and families is also an essential part of supporting the success of the Health Career Access Program.
Providing orientation to your health care support workers
Health care support workers are required to complete the steps outlined below as part of their orientation and ongoing training.
Workplace training length will vary based on the workplace needs.
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Step one: Prior to first day
Contact your HCSW via email welcoming them to their new role. Be sure to include the following documents and edit with any site-specific information:
- Welcome to the First Phase of the Health Career Access Program (acute)
- Welcome Letter Template (HCSW in acute)
Required training must be completed prior to working within the worksite. You may wish to request a copy of the emailed course completion certificates.
Recommended training:
- Getting started webinar - approx 1h
Required training:
- Fraser Health New Employee Required Learning course - approx 4h
- Curriculum: Provincial standard health care support worker orientation program - approx 22h 20m
- Education Session for Health Care Support Workers in Acute - approx 3 h
- Additional provincial online requirements/safety resources checklist - approx 2h 5m
- Fraser Health Falls and Injury Reduction - Acute Care - approx 15 minutes
- FHA Meditech – Enterprise Medical Record (EMR) (Online) - approx 1hr 10 minutes
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Step two: Within six weeks of hiring
In-person or virtual violence prevention training (approx. 8h) is required:
- Fraser Health virtual/classroom-based Violence Prevention course - approximately 8h
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Step three: Worksite orientation
Review the health care support worker site orientation PowerPoint with your health care support worker, customizing the information to your worksite as needed.
Orient your health care support workers to the site and to your policies and procedures, per your usual new employee processes. The following documents may help with your worksite orientation:
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Step four: Schedule mentor shifts
Ensure mentor/buddy shifts are scheduled for the health care support workers (HCSW).
Mentor/buddy shifts provide the health care support worker with exposure to the various processes and procedures as well as the various roles on the care team, discussing how the health care support worker can support the role.
The following document may help with your mentor/buddy shifts:
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Step five: Prerequisites for educational program
Ensure the health care support worker completes the pre-requisite learning requirements for admission to their educational training. These courses must be completed before they begin their post-secondary education program:
- English language proficiency test (if necessary)
- Foodsafe Level One
- CPR C and Standard First Aid
- Student Practice Education Core Orientation (SPECO) checklist which includes:
- Completing an N95 mask fit test
- Passing a Criminal record check
- Complete and return TB screening form provided by your post-secondary institute. If TB symptoms or risk factors are identified by the screening form, you must also obtain further TB assessment (i.e. via Public Health). Those who must obtain this assessment must provide documented proof to their post-secondary institute.
- Immunization against COVID-19 is a pre-requisite for admission to educational training. The following immunizations are also recommended:
- Chickenpox/Varicella
- Hepatitis B
- Measles
- Mumps
- Polio
- Rubella
- Tetanus
- Diphtheria
- Pertussis
- Meningococcal
- Influenza
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Step six: Ongoing education and support
Health care support worker Community of Practice
Fraser Health hosts Community of Practice meetings every few months for health care support workers.
The health care support workers Community of Practice comes together for one hour to share experiences, knowledge, successes, challenges, education, and tools. These optional meetings are encouraged, but not required.
The health care support workers Community of Practice has three main goals:
- To provide support to health care support workers
- To share tools and resources
- To encourage collaborative learning from one another
The health care support workers Community of Practice features speakers on a variety of topics, and provides opportunities to ask questions. Each health care support worker will receive the invitations to their Fraser Health email.
Orient your care team members to the health care support worker role
The health care support worker is a new position on the care team. It is essential that all members understand:
- the role of the health care support worker, including what they can and cannot do.
- the impacts to the care team’s roles and responsibilities
- the supervision and the direction of health care support workers
The role of the health care support worker
The health care support worker role is non-clinical and non-direct. The role is intended to support the care team and the patients. Their role adds to the quality of life for the patients by spending one-to-one time with patients and helping care team members by freeing them up to provide more time providing clinical support to the patients.
Care team orientation resources:
These documents are provided for printing and distribution.
- Health Care Support Worker Site Orientation Powerpoint
- The health care support worker can/cannot do list.
- Providing supervision/direction, daily assignment and oversight to health care support workers; A resource for long-term care/assisted living staff.
- Assigning the health care support worker activities and tasks: a decision-making algorithm.