Enrollment is now open for the Personal Support Worker
Education Fund for Long-Term Care for 2023-2024.
The PSW Education Fund builds capacity in long-term care (LTC) homes to deliver high-quality and safe care that meets the needs of residents. It provides funding to long-term care homes for their team members to participate in skill-building education.
This year, the fund will support tuition and backfill for the delivery of LIVING the Dementia Journey (LDJ), The Working Mind (TWM) Long-Term Care, Learning Inter-Professionally Healthcare Accelerator (LIPHA) platform, One Day: Person-Centred Culture, Making a Difference Every Day, Team Essentials and Talking About Tough Issues (TATI). The training supports homes in adopting person-centred models of care and developing and fostering a confident and skilled workforce.
LDJ is an evidence-informed training program that increases understanding of dementia and shares strategies to support those living with it. It was created by the RIA’s Murray Alzheimer Research and Education Program.
TWM Long-Term Care focuses on providing workers in the healthcare industry with the tools to promote mental health in the workplace while also reducing the stigma of mental illness. The Working Mind (TWM) is part of the Opening Minds initiative, managed by the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC).
One Day: Person-Centred Culture, Making a Difference Every Day is a new virtual training to equip team members to nurture a person-centred care approach in their care provision, with a focus on actionable steps so learners are empowered to start making positive changes immediately. The course was created with individuals living and working in senior living settings and subject matter experts in education, facilitation and culture change. The curriculum is provided and owned by the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging (RIA).
LIPHA is a simulation, coaching, and community platform based on the latest practice recommendations. It provides a virtual space with simulated cases and a serious educational game for teams to practice care with virtual patients or residents. This initiative is led by the Ontario CLRI at Baycrest and the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation with support from Launch 57 and the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest.
Team Essentials is a comprehensive training suite of eLearning courses that provide innovative educational solutions for LTC team members around priority issues in LTC. This year, Team Essentials will join forces with the Specialized Educator Certificate in Long-Term Care (SECL) Level 2 to support LTC educators in upgrading their knowledge and skills in engaging families in distress through experiential learning and collaboration with peers. This initiative is led by the Ontario CLRI at Baycrest.
Talking About Tough Issues (TATI) is a Micro-eLearning course that provides long-term care home team members at all levels with tools and techniques to face challenging conversations in their day-to-day work. It is part of the Leadership Express Micro-eLearning Series developed and delivered by CHA Learning, the learning division of HealthCareCAN and Canada’s only national, fully online learning provider serving all of healthcare.
The PSW Education Fund for Long-Term Care has been in operation since 2017 and has been used to train more than 18,000 personal support workers and other team members in LTC homes across the province.
Options for Training
LTC homes have training options. Team members can be trained by:
• facilitators from the RIA (for LDJ, TWM, and One Day).
• facilitators from the Mental Health Commission of Canada (if needed for TWM Long-Term Care).
• simulated cases and a serious educational game on a virtual platform (for LIPHA).
For additional information, including when courses are offered, please visit the Frequently Asked Questions page.
Tuition costs and backfill pay to LTC Homes
Tuition costs are fully funded for: LDJ; TWM Long-Term Care; One Day: Person Centred Culture, Making a Difference Every Day; LIPHA; and Team Essentials by the fund. No payment of tuition is required by the LTC home or team member.
LDJ backfill costs
For both certified in-house LDJ trainers and team members participating in team member training, the fund will reimburse the LTC home to cover backfill costs ($30 per hour x 8 hours = $240) of backfill per trainer and/or team member).
TWM Long-Term Care backfill costs
For leadership and team members participating in training, the fund will reimburse the LTC home to cover backfill costs ($30 per hour x 7 hours = $210 of backfill per leadership and $30 per hour x 5 hours = $150 of backfill per team member).
One Day: Person-Centred Culture, Making a Difference Every Day backfill costs
For team members participating in training, the fund will reimburse the LTC home to cover backfill costs ($30 per hour x 8 hours = $240 of backfill per team member).
LIPHA backfill costs
For new and recently hired PSWs and nursing team member training, the fund will reimburse the LTC home to cover backfill costs ($30 per hour x 14 hours = $420 of backfill per PSW and $30 per hour x 16 hours = $460 of backfill per nurse). Backfill support is limited and will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis.
Team Essentials backfill costs
For team members completing the eLearning course Team Essentials for Engaging Families in Distress, the fund will reimburse the LTC home to cover backfill costs ($30 per hour x 3.5 hours = $105 of backfill per team member). Backfill support is limited.
Talking About Tough Issues backfill costs
For team members participating in training, the fund will reimburse the LTC home to cover backfill costs ($30 per hour x 3 hours = $90 of backfill per team member).
Tuition and access fees are automatically covered by the fund upon registration of each team member and submission of the Trainer Attendance Tracking form.
The Ontario Centres for Learning, Research and Innovation in Long-Term Care (CLRI) strengthen quality of life and care for residents across the province. The Ontario CLRI is mandated by the Ministry of Long-Term Care to be a resource for the sector by providing education and sharing research and innovations to enhance the health and well-being of people who live and work in long-term care.
Acknowledgement
This work is supported in part by funding from the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Centres for Learning, Research and Innovation in Long-Term Care hosted at the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging (RIA). The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the Province.