OMG LOL Finally! At Last! YEAH!

When I-1163 was approved, we knew that all Continuing Education would need to be approved. Since the application for Continuing Education came out in April, I have been working very hard to get BINGO and Book Clubs approved. It's been a long process and I've learned so so much. Although it was hard, it was a really great experience. I learned about writing curriculum, working with the state and making compromises. I'm not being sarcastic when I say that it was a really enjoyable experience and I learned ALOT. Sure it was long and sure it was a lot of work. But patience is definitely not a virtue of mine and it was a good opportunity to learn how to be patience.

BINGO has been approved

1. A flat 2 hours will be given for each game played
2. Students will need to pass a short test at the end in order to get their certificate (test and evaluation will be available online)
3. All students who wish to play must register (online www.EssentialTrain.net, by email essentialtraining@comcast.net or by fax)
4. Play the game for free, the certificate will cost $20
5. The winner will get $50 and the certificate for free

BOOK CLUBS have bee approved as well

1. A flat 4 hours will be given for each game played
2. Students will need to engage in the blog questions after each chapter assignment in order to get credit for the class
3. All students will need to pass a short test at the end in order to get their certificate (test and evaluation will be available online)
4. All students who wish to play must register (online www.EssentialTrain.net, by email essentialtraining@comcast.net or by fax)
5. Cost of the classes will be $50 and will include the book and certificate

Several other online classes have been approved as well and will be available online by the end of the month.

I'm SO SO SO excited. I hope you are too.

Classroom vs Online

There is a huge trend going towards online learning. It's flexible, its easy to do on your own, it's easy to meet employer requirements in the comfort of your own home. It's wonderful.

I personally love this move towards online learning and I love that anytime I have a question or want to learn a new topic, I can look something up online (often for free) and learn a new skill. It's actually what I've been doing a lot of to learn how to run a small business.

But I worry a little about online learning. Over the last week and a half, I've been teaching a group of awesome HCA's in a completely classroom environment and it's really rather awesome.

You get something from the classroom that you can't get with online learning. INTERACTION. You get to hear what others in your same situation are going through. You get to hear questions that you didn't even know to ask. You get to add your own stories and history to the learning and get immediate feedback from the instructor.

As a teacher, the classroom has been very revealing to me. Online, my students are in a whole other frame of mind, but in front of me, I get to learn about their challenges and backgrounds and experiences. This helps me to form new curriculum and learning techniques to reach more students.

The most effective learning technique for adults has shown to be a BLENDED approach. Most colleges have adopted a lot of classes this way. Part of the time is spent in the classroom and you get the interaction and the 1:1 with the teach and part of the time is done online in the comfort of your own space.

I'm a big fan of this.

What works best for you? Online - Classroom - Blended?

Ode to the Gait Belt

I so desperately want to write a poem, sing a song, enact a play that marvels at the benefits of a Gait Belt.

I was teaching a Individual Provider class last week. I came across "that" student. Every class has this student. The student who:
1) Knows Everything
2) Has been doing this for 20-30 years
3) Thinks this class is such a waste of time

It's OK. Every class has them and it's easy to humor this student. They don't bug me (well actually, they do, but that's my problem to work out). And that's not the point of this post.

This particular student announced to this class of 20 students that Gait Belts were only for NACs working in a Nursing Home.

If you remember a ear-splitting crack heard across Washington State, I'm hear to assure you that that sound was the sound of my heart splitting in 2.

Gait Belts are simple and easy ways of holding onto the client when doing a transfer or assisting to walk. They give the Home Care Aide a handle to hold onto. Even if the client is weight bearing and at relatively low risk of falling, you just never know when something may go wrong.
Their knees may suddenly give out
A cat may push them off balance (you know that cats do this on purpose, don't you)
An underlying infection may be brewing that would make them dizzy
Their blood sugar may be low
Their blood pressure may be high

Any number of things may be happening that you are not aware of that could cause even the most stable client to lose their balance and fall at any time.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use a Gait Belt. They are your friend. They want to help. They want to be put to use.

BTW... If I ever need help and you use my pants to lift me and give me a wedgie, I'll kick you in the shins.

Use a Gait Belt!

HCA or NAC

On an almost daily basis, I get asked 1 question:

"Is a HCA a lesser version of a NAC"?

I may also hear:

"Are the HCA and NAC the same?"
"Is the HCA the 1st step to becoming a NAC?"
"What is the difference between a HCA & NAC?"

It's all different wording, but the implied message is the same:

'aren't they the same'?

The answer is a resounding "No."

The HCA (Home Care Aide) is different than a NAC (Nursing Assistant Certified). 1 is not a lesser version of another. 1 is not a "first step" to another. 1 is not better than the other. They are different. The focus of both is different and from one another. Both are very much needed in Nursing and a loss of one or the other would be devastating to Long Term Care.

Both have a shared set of skills:
Handwashing ~ Bed Baths ~ Transfers ~ Catheter Care ~ Fall Prevention, etc.

HCA's are much more focused on care in the home. Their role is not a highly medical one, but a highly supportive one. They support the person's strengths in the home environment (which may include Assisted Living or Adult Family Homes). They learn housekeeping, green cleaning and medication assistance.

NAC's are more focused on the nursing environment (which include Skilled Nursing Facilities and Hospitals). They support a person's recovery from a major medical problem. They learn Rehab Skills, learn how to work around medical devices (IV's, Tube Feedings, etc) and Vital Signs.

That's not to say that NAC's don't work in the Home Care Environment and HCAs never work around medical devices, but that is not the focus of their trainings.

In my experience, NACs struggle to adapt to the Home Care Environment and be less medical and HCAs need to learn more skills to go into the Medical Environment.

I think that the job of a NAC tends to be more physically demanding while the job of a HCA tends to be more emotionally demanding.

What other differences are there between NACs and HCAs?

My Letter to DSHS Department of Training

I have been getting so antsy to get approved as an instructor for the 70 hour CORE Training, that I decided to write a short email to the training department about my applications that have been turned in. It's not at all a popular opinion, but I believe my solution would really speed this process up.

Hi Paul!

I’m sorry if this is cluttering your inbox, but I would like to share my opinion with you (oh dear, I hear my mother in my head saying something not nice about everyone having opinions).

I really think that you guys should charge application fees. My view is not going to be a popular one, but I would pay you guys money if it meant you guys could get more staff and get my applications through faster. My application to be approved as an instructor for the already-approved CarePro curriculum was emailed 5-6 weeks ago and I haven’t heard a thing. I just submitted my continuing education stuff and I know that’s going to take even longer to get through.

 So here is my rationale:

1)      Everything else through the state has an application fee. My nursing license, facility licenses, facility beds, HCC will have 2 application fees, my car tabs, my registration, my kids birth certificates, death certificates. Everything else has fees and I get responses from those departments so much faster (I love you guys and believe your department is the sole place of sanity in the state, but you know it’s wrong when the DMV is faster than you ;-).

2)      If I (and others) had to pay a fee each time we submitted an application, we’d be more thorough about making sure those applications meet minimum criteria that you are looking for. I don’t want to pay a fee to have the application rejected. I’m sure you guys are tired of being the bad guys and rejecting applications left & right when they don’t meet criteria. I know that is the theme because every return email I get has something to do with being sure to meet minimum criteria including your new nifty automatic reply.

3)      I am a Community Based Trainer, which means that I will be charging students a fee to go through my programs. In the end, it isn’t costing me anything because I will be able to recoop these fees through the natural order of maintaining a small business. My ability to financially sustain my tiny little company is waiting on these applications to be approved. Maybe you don’t charge Facility-based Trainers, but only Community Based, but I think it’s fair that we pay the processing costs so that we can earn income, ya know. Maybe facility based trainers get an option for a paid fast-track or a free low priority.

OK. I’ll let you get back to reviewing applications and not reading the whining of RNs (we are an admittedly whiny group).

Thanks for all you do.

Mack

What do you think could be done to help out a very overwhelmed department in Olympia?

To Tweet or not to Tweet

The recent tragic death of Trayvon Martin has sparked an enormous amount of emotion, as it should. A few days ago, Spike Lee tweeted what he thought was George Zimmerman's address. It turned out to be an elderly couple with no relation at all to the Zimmerman's parents (he did apologized and offered to pay all the couple's expenses they incurred because they had to leave their home due to death threats). A few days later, Roseanne Bar tweeted George Zimmerman's parents actual address, but she promptly took it down. These 2 tweets (a comment 140 characters or less on Twitter) have sparked amazing news media blitz's about how celebrities should be using their immense influence for good instead of for vigilantism. But I thought it was time for a discussion of how caregiver's use social media.

1st and foremost - REMEMBER HIPPA

Social media has become a fast and quick way to share thoughts, but because it's become so fast (Jon Acuff says that 7 real days is equivalent to 43 Twitter-Years) people tend to not think about what they are putting out there. I'm here to remind you that HIPPA violations on social media sites are being watched carefully and prosecuted. Just get in the habit of NEVER EVER EVER sharing anything about work on Social Media sites if you are in healthcare. It's a slippery slope from putting photos of your new name tag to sharing photos of patients/client/residents, etc.

Few workplaces pay you to be on Social Media during your shift and supervisors ARE WATCHING. If you are doing something personal and are not on a break, you are stealing from the company. It is estimated that employers lose $10,000 a year per employee in lost productivity and they are looking for ways to get that money back. If they notice that you are on social Media sites (remember your posts are time stamped), your raise may not come this year.

A lot of employers are checking your account prior to hiring. If you post every frat boy party or Girls-only-dirty-trip to Vegas and that is the only thing on your site, you may not be hired anytime soon. If you have 30 tweets during the day about how much you hate your job. You probably won't get hired.

It is important to become vigilant about what you are putting onto your Digital Life. Your posts, shares, tweets, pins, etc say something about you. You should be sure that what you are putting into your digital world reflects the professional, caring, compassionate you that you must be because you decided to take care of others for a living.

Win a Kindle Fire and 1 year of Amazon Prime

I need to do some marketing. I need a new website and some new postcards and a new mailing campaign and new business cards... new new new.

Mostly, what I need is a new LOGO. I can't really start on all the other new stuff until I have a decent logo and my logo is very sad. I don't have the tools to properly design a good logo. I don't have anything better than WORD or Paint to design something. I designed my old logo in WORD, but it's sad and I'm definately not proud of it. Good logos are not easily reproducable and anything made is WORD can be reproduced in 2 seconds.

Also... I attended the QUITTER Conference a year ago and got a chance to listen to an amazing man named Ben Arnment. He explained that you should never design your own marketing materials. Even if you are a graphic designer (which I am), marketing design should be done by someone else. I saw his wisdom in this because when you design something, you fall in love with the work you put into it and your own artwork, that it's not easy to be objective about what is best for your business.

So I am offering a contest. Submit a logo and the winner will get a Kindle Fire and a year of Amazon Prime.

1) My colors are Purple and Orange. Any combination of 1 or both is fine
2) Contest goes from 2/27/2012 - 3/31/2012
3) The last week in March, I will put my favorite 3 designs on my website for folks to vote on
4) The winner will be announced 4/2/2012 (I can't post on April Fools, that would be weird)
HELP ME PLEASE!! Share the contest with your friends.

Submissions should be in JPEG form and emailed to essentialtraining@comcast.net with

Name – DOB – Mailing Address – Email Address – Phone Number – Favorite things in the world that are purple!

Be sure to email me at anytime with any questions or concerns. The only restriction is your imagination. Submit as many designs as you want. Encourage any number of friends to participate.

Th Buck Stops Here

The 1st 3 chapters of this book were the most powerful for me and the lesson from President Truman really hit home. It is both frustrating and freeing at the very same time. When I 1st read this book, I felt like my job was against me, my sister was against me and I was never going to be the same runner I was. This 1st lesson of "The Buck Stops Here" had me in absolute tears.

It was frustrating because I didn't want to take any responsibilty for the hard times I was going through. I wanted to hate my boss and loathe my sister. I wanted to feel sorry for myself because I thought that was the easiest way.

But once the tears ebbed and I started to absorb this truth, I started to become free. My job wasn't abusing me. Sure there are jobs with better benefits and different leadership styles, but it wasn't abusive. I had the choice to stay or leave. I was making the choice to stay and I was making the choice to fight my supervisors decisions every single step. And through that choice, I (not him) was making my job miserable. My sister and I have always been different. But I was chosing to ignore and make scathing comments just as much as she was. I had to let that go and once I did, my relationship with her healed almost immediately. I had made the choice to gain so much weight and quit running. Through that choice, I obtained several injuries that made it harder to get back into shape. I fell into the excuses and stopped caring for myself. This didn't just happen to me, it came out of a series of choices.

Well, The Buck Stops Here. I chose to stay at my job and because of this choice, I get the best benefit I could possibly get... a check that allows me to pay the mortgage, put food on the table and take my oldest son to see Mythbusters on Tour in Spokane. I chose to work on my relationship with my sister and treat her with kindness and because of that, I get to have a relationship with her. I chose to start following a diet and do exercise and through that I am able to get back to running again.

This principle when put together with Anne Franks' princple (to come later in the book) completely changed my life for the better and I have seen amazing changes that have led to many successes.

The Buck Stops Here.

Read chapters 4 and 5 and comment below on the following questions:

1) King Solomon says, “We, as humans, are always in a process of change. Therefore, we

might as well guide the direction in which we change.” How will the decision to “seek wisdom”

help you guide the direction in which you change?


2) What point is King Solomon making when he directs David to understand that “serving is

a way we can place value on one another”? He says, “A wise man is a server.” Why?


3) The book opens with a quotation by Joshua Chamberlain, an obscure figure in American

history. How does this quote set the stage for the book?

4) Why do you think Andrews chose to begin with a quote by Chamberlain instead of one by

the other historical characters in the book?

Let the READIN' Begin!

Hello to all the Book Clubbers. I'm so excited about having you all read this book. I really feel like you will find as you read through it, your mind set and life will be changed. Mine was. So let's get going!!! It's never too late to join so if you have friends who want to join us, I still have a few books left.

This week, I want you all to read chapters 1, 2 and 3 and comment on the following questions. This is an introduction to David Ponder and the absolute desperation he feels in his life. Just when he is about to give up on everything, he finds he's face to face with none other than Harry S. Truman.

1) In what ways is David an "everyman" who is experiencing a journey applicable to all humans.

2) What is David’s attitude toward the past? Toward the future?

3) President Harry Truman tells David, “You have chosen the pathway to your present destination.

The responsibility for your situation is yours.” Do you believe that an individual’s

present state is solely determined by personal choice and responsibility? Why or why not?

4) Tuman says, “Our thinking creates a pathway to success or failure.” Can you remember a

particular instance when your thinking created success? Can you remember a particular

instance when your thinking led to failure? Have you seen evidence of this truism in the

lives of others? 

5) Why does Andrews consider challenges a gift?