Personal Support Worker Program Sees Students Enter the Field in Two Semesters
Centennial
College’s one-year Ontario College Certificate program prepares
students to provide others the care and assistance they need to live
active and fulfilled lives. The Personal Support Worker program focuses
on the full range of home- and health-related services required by a
variety of clients. To apply for the Personal Support Worker program,
students must have completed at least an Ontario Secondary School
Diploma (OSSD) or equivalent or be 19 years of age or older. Also
required is a compulsory English 12C or U credit or skills assessment,
or equivalent. Lastly, English proficiency will be considered as part of
the admission process.
Once
students have been accepted, they will enter an intensely paced program
during which they’ll spend more than half the total program hours
working with teams in long-term care institutions, the community and at
in-home settings. This field placement allows them to apply what they
have learned in-school. However, on-campus training is just as important
and is led by an experienced group of faculty members. Training in the
Personal Support Worker program focuses on the full range of home and
health related services required by the elderly, clients with
disabilities, chronic illnesses, cognitive impairment and also clients
recovering from acute illnesses. Specific Personal Support Worker
courses include: Anatomy, Foundations of Personal Support, Developmental
Stages & Alterations in Health, Personal Support Communication,
Foundations of Mental Health, Supporting Clients in Palliative Care and
more.
As
a result of these Personal Support Worker courses, students graduate
program with a skills that include: providing client-centered and
client- directed care under supervision; making, collecting, and
reporting to the supervisor relevant observations in an ongoing and
timely manner and recording this information promptly; supporting the
client’s personal care requirements by following care/service plans;
communicating effectively and appropriately using oral, written, and
nonverbal methods.
Upon graduation, personal support worker program graduates work under the direction of a Registered Nurse or Registered
Practical Nurse and may work in a health care facility and home care.
According to Ontario Network for Internationally Trained Professionals,
in the course of remaking the health care system in Canada, Personal
Support Workers are reported to be in growing demand. In addition, the
Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, as well as community
agencies and clinical settings recognize the certificate.
