IHSS Training: IHSS+ Home Care Integration
IHSS training, or the “IHSS+ Home Care Integration Training Program (IHSS+),” is a 10-week course that educates and empowers caregivers who provide services to older adults and persons with disabilities through the California In-Home Support Services (IHSS) program. In the IHSS training classes, IHSS providers learn how to take on the enhanced roles of Monitor, Communicator, Coach, Navigator, and Care Aide while developing the skills needed to be integrated into the consumers’ Care Teams.
The unique partnership between the Center for Caregiver Advancement (CCA), L.A. Care Health Plan and SEIU Local 2015 has resulted in free IHSS training programs that develop a workforce of caregivers who are confident, highly skilled, and integral to their consumers’ overall health and well-being.
Format: Real-time virtual learning led by instructors
Length: 10 weeks
Languages offered: English, Spanish, Korean, Armenian, Mandarin
Eligibility: Must be an IHSS provider in California whose consumer is an L.A. Care Health Plan Umbrella member
Here’s what you will learn in this IHSS training program:
Course 1: Roles and Responsibilities of the Caregiver
This module introduces the roles and responsibilities of IHSS caregivers.
Course 2: Communication and Teamwork
Students practice communication skills, including how to effectively discuss a problem with a consumer. Caregivers also learn about person-centered care and be introduced to the rights of caregivers and consumers.
Course 3: Introduction to Activities of Daily Living and Body Mechanics
Students learn how to assist their consumers with ADLs, identify some common assistive devices, and demonstrate proper body mechanics for the job.
Course 4: Personal Care
This module focuses on helping consumers maintain good oral care, how to help them bathe and use the toilet, and identify actions that support the consumer’s dignity.
Course 5: Infection Control
This course introduces providers to infection control and provides opportunities for practice, where possible. Participants will discuss how to provide care and comfort to those who have diseases, and how to avoid transmission of communicable diseases. In addition, the procedures involved in the avoidance of pressure sores will be addressed. The provider’s role, as a member of the consumer’s care team, in assisting the consumer to recognize the dangers of a pressure sore, seek out appropriate care, and monitor the condition of a sore that is under treatment, is emphasized in this course.
Course 6: Medication Adherence and Competency Checks
Students are introduced to techniques and tools for medication management. They complete competency checks demonstrating their proper understanding of lessons learned so far.
Course 7: CPR/AED/First Aid
American Red Cross, CPR and AED.
Course 8: Nutrition, Diet and Physical Activity
This module teaches the basics of nutrition, healthy and modified diets, as well as the importance of physical activity in a consumer’s daily routine. Caregivers learn about assistive devices that can help a consumer to eat.
Course 9: Introduction to Vitals and Home Safety
This module introduces the four main vital signs and why they are taken. Students learn the most common injuries in home care and how to prevent injury on the job. Students learn about Durable Medical Equipment (DME).
Course 10: Health Plan Model
Students get an understanding of the health plan model of care to make decisions and solve problems on the job.
Related Reading: CCA Training May Reduce ER Visits, Healthcare Costs
