Clinical Education
A Message From Susan Sender
At Loving Care Agency and Links2Care, we stand for excellence in caregiving. Our patients and their families are as committed to us as we are to them. And so I think it is important to share the ongoing commitment we have to our field caregivers. Our nurses, our home health aides, and therapists touch the lives of our patients and their families every day across the entire company. These special people enable our patients to stay at home; from the very youngest, medically fragile preemie to our very oldest, functionally impaired senior in our HCBS (Home and Community Based Services). Each of them has something in common. They want to receive care at home, surrounded by their families and loved ones. Our clinicians make this possible every day.
Each one of our branches has the significant responsibility of taking excellent care of our patients, and in order to accomplish that, take excellent care of our clinicians. We currently have a number of initiatives to help us provide these precious resources with the support they need. After all, drawing the very best clinicians toward us and ensuring that they want to stay with us is the first step toward being the leader in our industry. As a nurse myself, I believe that our clinical staff wants to work for a company that provides excellent care. I know that in order for me to provide excellent care, I need ongoing education on topics important to my practice. Towards that end, the following is a partial list of the education-related initiatives Loving Care offers its clinical staff:
- Role-specific, standardized orientation programs
- Student nurse programs -- offering students the opportunity to observe home care as a career option
- Programs directed at New Graduates -- preceptor-led, formal programs for new graduate nurses, or nurses re-entering the workforce
- Face-to-face, instructor-led programs offering practical application in new technologies providing better, timely education for our staff on the ever-changing medical technologies used in the home
- Programs aimed at educating our staff on the important milestones for our patients whether at the beginning of life, school-aged, adolescent, or young adults, and everywhere in between, including important transitions (like moving from the hospital to the home environment)
- Comprehensive competency testing and training programs
- Rigorous hiring guidelines, including interview guides for clinicians and competency testing
As I said, I believe that our clinical staff is our most valuable resource; and I am committed to making sure that they get the tools they need to take great care of our patients...
