Enrollment is now closed for the Personal Support Worker
Education Fund for Long-Term Care. Please check back soon!
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 virtual delivery of Excellence in Resident-Centred Care (ERCC), LIVING the Dementia Journey (LDJ), The Working Mind (TWM) Healthcare, and Learning Inter-professionally Healthcare Accelerator (LIPHA) platform. The training supports homes in adopting person-centred models of care and developing and fostering a confident and skilled workforce.
ERCC provides team members with practical skills in person-centred care and was co-developed by Conestoga College and the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging (RIA).
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 Healthcare 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).
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.
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 four training options. Team members can be trained virtually by:
• Conestoga College instructors (for ERCC).
• facilitators from the RIA (for LDJ).
• facilitators from the Mental Health Commission of Canada (for TWM Healthcare).
• 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, ERCC, TWM Healthcare, and LIPHA 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 ($25 per hour x 8 hours = $200 of backfill per trainer and/or team member).
ERCC backfill costs
For team members participating in team member training, the fund will reimburse the LTC home to cover backfill costs ($25 per hour x 7 hours = $175 of backfill per team member).
TWM Healthcare backfill costs
For leadership and team members participating in training, the fund will reimburse the LTC home to cover backfill costs ($25 per hour x 7 hours = 175 of backfill per leadership and $25 per hour x 5 hours = $125 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 ($25 per hour x 14 hours = $350 of backfill per PSW and $25 per hour x 16 hours = $400 of backfill per nurse). Backfill support is limited and will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis.
Tuition and access fees for each training program 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.