As life expectancy continues to rise, due to the availability and potency of drugs that regulate blood pressure, cholesterol and help to reduce the effects and seriousness of osteoporosis (among other medications), the requirements for home care provider training has become more detailed and therefore, classes need to speak to both the needs of those to be cared for as well as the needs of the adult undergoing education.



Adults learn differently than children. Consider languages. A child learns language far more efficiently than an adult. A child's mind is open and receptive to new information, whereas the adult brain is fully developed, and also filled with years of experiences that are constantly defining new information, relating it and assigning processes for recollection. Adults must train their brains to learn. The same can be seen with musical instruments. Whereas a child may take a year or two to become proficient at playing the violin, an adult, practicing even more frequently, may take up to five years to keep the violin sounding like a group of hungry cats. Adults learn at a different pace and with different methods.

It is with that pace and those methods in mind, the personal care attendant training programs were developed. Programs like these make use of adult education methods that are proven successful, and combine them. Adults learn through a myriad of processes, including auditory learning through lectures; visual and auditory learning through DVDs; visual and auditory learning through instructor demonstrations; visual, tactile and participatory learning through hands-on-training; auditory and participatory learning through group discussions and visual learning through reading assignments. Because these methods are combined in various sets (for example, visual learning is combined with auditory, tactile and participatory), adults who favor certain types of learning will absorb and be able to apply the information. Many adult education programs only focus on one or two of these elements; resulting in failure to succeed for many adults.

Home care provider training features coursework, broken up into the types of learning described above. Material covered includes topics such as oxygen therapy and communication skills, as well as everything in between. Students of the training program will learn to apply their new knowledge, combining it with their already present sense of compassion, in order to become helpful aides who can change the lives of the person or persons with whom they work.

Materials provided for each course include a wide variety of training and teaching tools, such as textbooks and workbooks, DVDs and evaluations and tests, along with other valuable materials. The variety of materials will keep interest and focus in the program. Imagine attending forty hours of straight lecture. Not at once, of course, but even over time, without discussion, reading, hands-on-experiences, the material becomes boring for both the instructor and the students. Imagine college classes without labs, tests, homework and papers. Sure, homework may not be fun per se, but the change of pace keeps the mind working, and helps the brain to find new ways in which to solve problems.

This type of home care provider training is designed for easy implementation within community colleges, private duty agencies and vocational training schools. The personal care attendant training program is ideal for adult and high school education and workforce development. Providing home care is among the top ten fastest growing occupations, and is a position that allows practitioners to make a positive difference in the world by providing care to those who need it most. Care doesn't only mean physical care, but also mental and emotional care as well.