Category: News

Ontario Renews CEoL Education Fund for Palliative and End-of-Life Training in LTC

All-In Palliative Care Graphic

Ontario LTC homes can once again access All-In Palliative Care: The Team Approach to LTC (All-In) training to enhance their team members’ skills in both palliative care and end-of-life care! This free training is made possible by the CEoL Education Fund that provides tuition and backfill funding for participation of interprofessional team members.

All-In is an evidence-informed training program that will boost interprofessional care delivery and improve team-wide communication through interactive scenario-based learning on the psychosocial aspects of palliative care. All-In is aligned to the new Fixing Long Term Care Act, 2021 that requires a palliative approach to care for all LTC residents.

“We see everyday that team members want to better the care and quality of life of residents. The All-In Palliative Care training program offers much needed space for reflection and tools for a culturally sensitive, team-based palliative approach to care. Many have taken this training to understand themselves and to deepen their knowledge. They are also engaged because they can promote change for residents, care partners and change within their own LTC team.” says Zsófia Orosz, Director, Ontario CLRI at Bruyère.

By participating, your team will:

  • Clarify the difference between palliative care and end-of-life care;
  • Learn how to strengthen the integration of an interprofessional approach to palliative care;
  • Develop improved communication skills to interact within the interdisciplinary team, with residents and their families; and
  • Contribute to a grief-friendly workplace.

This training will be delivered in an 8-hour virtual course by expert facilitators. One hour of prerequisite eLearning is included in All-In. Interested homes should apply by December 19, 2022. Training takes place in February and March 2023.

Feel free to contact us at ceolfund@bruyere.org or 613-562-6262, Ext. 1985 if you have any questions.

APPLY TODAY! 

 

New IPAC courses now available in French!

 

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed a spotlight on infection prevention and control (IPAC) in Ontario’s long-term care (LTC) homes. In Spring 2021, the Ontario CLRI at the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging (RIA) released an IPAC resource page and eLearning series. We are happy to announce that new courses in our IPAC eLearning series are now available in French!

These eLearning courses focus on increasing IPAC knowledge and skills while empowering learners to protect themselves, residents, their co-workers, and their community. Learners will be able to apply their IPAC knowledge and skills to specific scenarios in LTC homes and situations they encounter in their communities.

“Our eLearning courses are based on situations that team members encounter in their work,” says Audra Thompson-Haile, Interim Director for the Ontario CLRI at the RIA. “This eLearning helps team members and essential care partners transfer IPAC knowledge to the care they provide.”

The eLearning courses we have available in our IPAC series in English and in French include:

 

  1. Break the Chain of Transmission: IPAC Core Concepts and Practices (prerequisite for the other courses in the IPAC eLearning series) – Also in French!
    • Types of Transmission and the Chain of Transmission
    • Additional Precautions and Routine Practices in Long-term Care
    • Applying Best Practices for Hand Hygiene and PPE
  2. IPAC While Supporting Residents at Mealtime
  3. IPAC While Traveling To and From an LTC Home
  4. IPAC While Administering Medication
  5. IPAC While Supporting Residents with Personal Care: Peri-Care, Continence Care and Using the Toilet
  6. IPAC While Supporting Residents  with Personal Care: Bathing, Dressing, and Grooming

Visit the IPAC in LTC page.

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The IPAC in LTC courses and training materials have been developed by the Ontario CLRI at the RIA in collaboration with an expert panel of IPAC specialists working in LTC and an advisory panel of LTC team members, essential care partners, and The Ontario Caregiver Organization.

PREP LTC offers free preceptor eLearning Course for LTC homes

A preceptor talking to a group of team members in a long-term care setting.

The PREP LTC preceptor eLearning Course is a self-directed online learning solution consisting of eight interactive eLearning modules. Each module takes about 40 – 90 minutes to complete totalling seven hours of learning. The modules include downloadable resources, learning exercises and interviews with experts, which help LTC homes build positive placement experiences with PSW and nursing students as well as IENs.

Backfill pay

PREP LTC will cover the backfill costs of team members acting in preceptor roles. Backfill payments are for completing all eight modules of the PREP LTC eCourse through the eLearning Hub. Backfill pay is $25 per hour x 7 hours = $175 per team member.

Backfill support is limited and provided on a first-come, first-served basis. To qualify for backfill, LTC homes can enroll in PREP LTC by visiting clri-prepltc.ca/funding. To learn more about and enroll in the free course, visit clri-prepltc.ca/education.

 

Acknowledgements
The PREP LTC eLearning Course was developed by the Ontario CLRI at Baycrest and is built on the success of the ministry-funded Preceptor Education Program (PEP) in collaboration with the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Western Ontario and with Fanshawe College School of Nursing.

PREP LTC is led by the Ontario Centres for Learning, Research and Innovation in Long-Term Care (CLRI) at the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging in collaboration with the Ontario CLRI teams at Baycrest Health Sciences and Bruyère. The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the Province.

PREP LTC funding now open to Ontario long-term care homes

The Preceptor Resource and Education Program in Long-Term Care (PREP LTC) opened the next round of enrollment to help build a skilled long-term care (LTC) workforce and support homes across Ontario with funding from the Ministry of Long-Term Care.

The PREP LTC initiative supports LTC homes by building or expanding clinical student placement programs, providing online education and support for preceptors and students and developing resources to support positive, successful student placements.

By enrolling in PREP LTC, LTC homes will have access to:

  • support from engagement teams.
  • assessment of needs and barriers.
  • support with placement coordination. connections with post-secondary schools.
  • tools, resources and templates.
  • preceptor education.
  • funding to backfill preceptor time.

LTC homes can now enroll to get access to preceptor education, resources, funding and support in building and expanding positive and successful student placement programs. Homes enroll and have their students register in PREP LTC to receive funding for clinical student placements ending between April 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023.

Eligible LTC homes:

  •  will receive $2,000 per personal support worker (PSW) student placement.
  •  will receive $3,600 per nursing (PN, BScN) student and internationally educated nurse (IEN) placement.
  •  can receive $40,000 or more in funding depending on the total number of student placements registered in Ontario. By registering all student placements, homes have the potential to receive additional funds (above $40,000) once registration closes.
  •  registering less than $40,000 in placements will receive the amount they claim.
  •  have until March 31st, 2023, to spend the funds.

More than 200 homes enrolled to receive funding for more than 3,000 student placements in 2021-22. If your home enrolled for funding last time, sign up again for year two. If your home is enrolling for the first time, or if you didn’t receive funding in 2021-22, we can support you in accessing funding in 2022-23.

Visit clri-prepltc.ca to enroll.

PREP LTC is led by the Ontario Centres for Learning, Research and Innovation in Long-Term Care (CLRI) at the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging in collaboration with the Ontario CLRI teams at Baycrest Health Sciences and Bruyère. The views expressed herein are the views of the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging, Baycrest Health Sciences and Bruyère and do not necessarily reflect those of the Province.

Expanded education, mental health training for long-term care

Long-term care team members in Ontario will have access to diversified education offerings that respond to the sector’s needs and capacity as the Ontario CLRI at the RIA expands training options through the Personal Support Worker Education Fund in Long-Term Care. The Ontario Ministry of Long-Term Care funds the training.

“The PSW Education Fund enhances continuing education for personal support workers—as well as other team members and leaders—in the long-term care sector. Through developing and fostering a skilled workforce, the quality of life for residents is enhanced,” says Tina Mah, executive director of the RIA.

In its fifth year of operation, the fund provides long-term care homes with tuition and backfill for their team members to participate in skill-building education that fulfills the newly implemented requirements outlined in the Fixing Long-Term Care Act, 2021 by improving staffing and care to protect residents.

Continuing to diversify the education offerings ensures team members learn practical skills in person-centred care, infection control, supporting residents living with dementia and mental health awareness and resilience training.

This year, the fund will support

• Excellence in Resident-Centred Care (ERCC)
• LIVING the Dementia Journey (LDJ)
• The Working Mind (TWM) Healthcare
• Learning Inter-Professionally Healthcare Accelerator (LIPHA)

ERCC provides team members with practical skills in resident-centred care. The virtual education offered through the fund includes seven modules: person-centred care, infection control, safety and mobility, self-care, working with others and nutrition. This course increases team members’ self-confidence, job satisfaction and morale. Conestoga College and the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging co-developed ERCC.

LDJ is an award-winning, evidence-informed training program for those who support people living with dementia. Participants gain awareness and understanding that changes not only the way they view dementia but the way they support people living with it. The RIA’s Murray Alzheimer Research and Education Program created LDJ in collaboration with people living with dementia and their care partners.

TWM Healthcare is an evidence-based course that gives those in healthcare the tools to promote mental health in the workplace while also reducing the stigma of mental illness. TWM provides training to participants through three core modules, plus a fourth module for leaders. The Working Mind (TWM) is part of the Opening Minds initiative, managed by the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC). Launched by MHCC in 2013, TWM was developed by clinicians and peers and based on scientific research and best practices.

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.

Long-term care homes can begin enrolling online for select virtual training options on August 10, 2022. Watch for announcements of other program training dates in the coming weeks.

The PSW Education Fund started in 2017 with more than 18,000 personal support workers and other team members receiving training in long-term care homes across the province.

Learn more about the fund, or enroll online by visiting the PSW Education Fund website.

LTC homes can now use LIPHA to boost retention & team competency

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are you looking for innovative, interactive, and effective ways to train team members in your long-term care (LTC) home?

Do you want to improve the capacity and competency, and inspire the relational care of your LTC team?

If so – we’d like to introduce you to LIPHA– a free virtual learning platform designed by LTC for LTC. The Learning Inter-Professionally Healthcare Accelerator (LIPHA) is a simulation, coaching and community platform that provides a virtual space with simulated cases and a serious educational game for teams and individuals to practice caring for virtual residents.

“[The game] helps me [in] my study, both the practical and the theory. It gives me those theoretical answers or theoretical knowledge and basis on the older adults. And then it also gives me the edge of learning the skills that I need in my placement or in my practicum.”  – Student

We want to support LTC homes to incorporate LIPHA into their orientation and training at no cost. Supports include some backfill funding (first-come, first served) and access to technical, implementation, education support to assist the rollout of LIPHA.

Interested? Learn more and fill out our intake form, and stay tuned for more educational offerings.

 

New IPAC eLearning course released

"IPAC while supporting residents with bathing, dressing and grooming"

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed a spotlight on infection prevention and control (IPAC) in Ontario’s long-term care (LTC) homes. In Spring 2021, the Ontario CLRI at the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging (RIA) released an IPAC resource page and eLearning series.

Now we have added to the eLearning series with a new course: IPAC While Supporting Residents with Personal Care: Bathing, Dressing, and Grooming.

 

 

“Our eLearning courses are based on situations that team members encounter in their work,” says Audra Thompson-Haile, Interim Director for the Ontario CLRI at the RIA. “This eLearning helps team members and essential care partners transfer IPAC knowledge to the care they provide.”

The new eLearning course focuses on using IPAC best practices while assisting residents with personal care, such as bathing, dressing and grooming. It will increase IPAC knowledge and skills while empowering learners to protect themselves, residents, their co-workers, and community members. 

With the IPAC resource page and eLearning series, learners will be able to apply their IPAC knowledge and skills to specific scenarios in LTC homes and situations encountered in the community.

eLearning courses now available

  • 1. Break the Chain of Transmission: IPAC Core Concepts and Practices (prerequisite for the other courses in the IPAC eLearning series) – Also in French!
    • Types of Transmission and the Chain of Transmission
    • Additional Precautions and Routine Practices in Long-term Care
    • Applying Best Practices for Hand Hygiene and PPE
  • 2. IPAC While Supporting Residents at Mealtime – Also in French!
  • 3. IPAC While Travelling To and From an LTC Home – Also in French!
  • 4. IPAC While Administering Medication
  • 5. IPAC While Supporting Residents with Personal Care: Peri-Care, Continence Care and Using the Toilet
  • 6. IPAC While Supporting Residents  with Personal Care: Bathing, Dressing, and Grooming

Visit the IPAC in LTC page


The IPAC in LTC courses and training materials have been developed by the Ontario CLRI at the RIA in collaboration with an expert panel of IPAC specialists working in LTC and an advisory panel of LTC team members, essential care partners, and The Ontario Caregiver Organization.

Are medical students ready to lead the change in long-term care?

"student reflections on a LTC research project"

By Ammar Saad.

During some of the darkest months of the past two years, most Canadians heard the grim news coming from long-term care (LTC) homes, and many witnessed first-hand the heartbreaking and devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lives and wellbeing of LTC home residents and their families. 

As students, we wanted to help, but many of us didn’t know how. LTC homes were “locked-down” and we were “locked-out”. We also lacked the training and experience needed to provide long-term care, so we decided to learn through experiment, gain experience through research, and start by shedding light on the health inequities of LTC home residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

We formed a research team of medical, nursing, science, epidemiology, and public health students. We designed a research study to explore how the initial lockdown impacted LTC home residents’ lives, and if the visitation strategies that followed were of any help. With the supervision of a frontline physician who had expertise in long-term care, and support from the Ontario Centre for Learning, Research, and Innovation in Long-Term Care at Bruyère, we were ready to undertake an adventure of a lifetime, one that would ultimately shape our perspectives and careers. 

Our project entailed surveying and virtually interviewing LTC home residents, their family members, and designated caregivers. We believed that one-on-one interviews would allow residents and family members to speak their minds and tell us about their experiences and stories candidly and safely. For some of us, this was not our first research study collaboration, but for all of us, it was the first time that we had the opportunity to hear real-life stories and experiences in LTC homes during the pandemic. Residents and their families had a lot to say, their words were emotionally charged, their stories laden with anger, despair, guilt, and confusion. We felt what they felt, ached as they ached, and at certain points, could not believe what we had heard.

This was a challenging time for everyone, including us, students, who were navigating a changing education system, coping with COVID-19 stress, and trying to see this research study through. While many argued that we did not have the capacity to take on an emotionally charged study such as ours, we found solace in what this adventure brought to us and what it would bring to the scientific community for years to come. Through this study, we found a purpose and cause to fight for, a channel to streamline our efforts, and an opportunity to expand on what health equity means in long-term care and COVID-19. We were and still are, confident that the stories we heard and experiences of residents and family members that we documented, coupled with our robust approach to research will shed light on an understudied issue; the health inequities experienced by LTC home residents. Our findings can serve as the first step towards making sure that LTC home residents never have to experience the same inequities they have ever again.

So where do we go from here?” we asked ourselves as we submitted the research paper for publication earlier this year. We are now equipped with the experimental knowledge we need to shape our careers and support equitable and evidence-based care to LTC home residents, but how about other students who were not able to share this opportunity with us? Our work cannot be exclusive to our team or it will defy its purpose and objective. All and every student with the desire to learn more about the health inequities brought by the COVID-19 pandemic to LTC home residents should have the opportunity to do so. Our next step going forward will be to lead the way for other students to learn as we learned and shape their careers as we did. We now have the duty to lead the change. Through advocating for the integration of long-term care education into our undergraduate and graduate curricula, and through working with our respective university programs to create new initiatives, such as community service-learning programs, we can provide students the opportunity to care for and improve the health equity of LTC home residents. We are now ready to lead the change in long-term care. The real question remains: who is willing to help us lead this change?

Learn more about our study, and our protocol

Ammar Saad is a medical student who pursued a master’s degree in Epidemiology from the University of Ottawa. He is the lead author on the aforementioned research paper, Health Equity Implications of the COVID-19 Lockdown and Visitation Strategies in Long-Term Care Homes in Ontario: A Mixed Method Study

 

Supporting Resident Quality of Life During Isolation

So many LTC homes face continual challenges that come with residents being made to isolate because of COVID-19. This was the topic of a recent question brought up by our Social Worker and Social Service Worker Community of Practice, a group supported by the Ontario CLRI at Bruyère and Family Councils Ontario. Our social work (SW) and social service work (SSW) colleagues shared what they have been doing to mitigate loneliness and isolation for residents during times when they are spending the majority of the day in their rooms. Below is a compiled list of strategies and resources to support the quality of life for residents during periods of outbreak and isolation they may have to go through. We hope hearing from other homes will spark ideas and solutions for your own home and/or community.
Social Worker in LTC Virtual Community of Practice.

Three key themes emerged from the group around enhancing the quality of life of residents in isolation or in outbreak protocols:

  • Technology: There’s a variety of ways to get technology into the hands of residents in your home and it will make all the difference to virtual engagement – especially if they come with Wi-Fi access. Residents have enjoyed using YouTube or iTunes to watch movies/videos or listen to music that can help boost the morale of residents. These devices can also help support virtual visits with family and friends. Look to the community for donations of old tablets and phones with Wi-Fi capabilities.
  • Public library resources: Utilize your local library – Public libraries often have book sets (including audio books) for lending and a variety of online programs. Read books either in resident groups or via aloud over the PA system to reach residents in their rooms.
  •  1:1 Check-Ins: Taking the time to check in with residents and their families, as team members are able, is crucial to residents; well-being during outbreaks/isolation. This is a role that SWs and SSWs in LTC are fulfilling regularly.

Hallway activities

Hallway activities bring residents together at their doorways and can allow for appropriate spacing between residents, while still being able to follow COVID-19 protocols. Some examples for hallway activities SWs and SSWs shared are listed below:

  • Art: Painting or drawing is a great way to help residents express their creativity.
  • Bingo: Use printed Bingo pages; you can also use themed Bingo pages.
  • Music program: Residents can use bells, shakers, or other instruments to create songs
    and play along to music.
  • Drum Fitness: Using exercise balls and drumsticks (or cut pool noodles as an adaptation)
    is a great activity where everything can be sanitized.
  • Spiritual programs: Prayer Groups, Hymn Sing (when singing is permitted), chair yoga, and mindfulness activities such as setting intentions, reading reflections, breathing exercises, and guided meditation.
  • Collaborative story or poem: Using a whiteboard or iPad have the residents pick a theme and take turns adding sentences or lines to the story/poem.
  • True or False: Using paddles, have one side representing “True” and the other representing “False.” As you ask your questions, residents raise their paddles with their answers for everyone to see.
  • Crosswords/Trivia: Print copies of your clues/questions for residents to follow along. Giant crosswords can be mounted on boards to make them portable and easy to set up on a stand in the hallway.
  • Leisure Time: Prepare a variety of activities for residents based on what they feel like doing in that moment.

Additional Resources

  • Strategies for Building and Maintaining Social Connection for Long-Term Care Home Residents – This report (done earlier on in COVID-19) provides strategies identified from published research and illustrated with stakeholder input that can help build and maintain social connections in LTC residents. (ENCOAR Research Team)
  • Social Relationships are Important for the Mental Health of people living in long-term care homes – An Infographic (available in French and English) showing the connection between social connectedness and physical and mental health and well-being. (ENCOAR Research Team)
  • A Guide to Virtual Creative Engagement for Older Adults – this guide can help LTC address the under-stimulation and loneliness felt by residents from restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The VCE Guide features a curated list of free virtual services appropriate for residents with various health conditions and ability levels. The guide is intended for recreation therapists, social workers, nurses and other team members in LTC.  (Ontario CLRI at Baycrest)
  • Boredom Busters – Developed in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce boredom and loneliness for residents in LTC, this tool pulls together links to free resources and activities. The tool can be utilized by family care partners (and team members) who are spending time with residents and looking for creative ways to engage. Available in English and French. (Ontario CLRI at Bruyere and iGen Ottawa)

Thank you to the members of the SW and SSW in LTC Community of Practice for bringing up this important question, for the spirit of sharing ideas and willingness to have these ideas shared more broadly.


Bruyère logo

Now Hiring Multiple Positions for PREP LTC

A group of people site with laptops and paper at a table. "We're Hiring Regional Engagement Liaisons"

All hosts centres of the Ontario CLRI  are hiring key positions for the Preceptor Resource and Education Program in Long-Term Care  (PREP LTC). The Regional Engagement Liaison will be responsible for planning and implementing strategies to engage LTC homes, academic institutions, students and preceptors within an assigned provincial region. These positions will be part of an Ontario-wide team of Regional Engagement Liaisons.

Come work with a collaborative and innovative team dedicated to making an impact where it’s needed most!

 

We are also hiring a communications officer and knowledge broker to support PREP LTC: