Category: Research Institute for Aging

New eLearning course on pain and distress management

 

The Orientation eLearning courses, created by the Ontario CLRI at the RIA, provide education for new team members during orientation, and for existing team members during their annual training. These scenario-based learning courses ensure that learners have the knowledge and skills needed to assist the people they support and are in line with Ministry of Long-Term Care guidelines. They were developed using evidence-based best practices and adult education principles, in collaboration with subject matter experts and LTC leaders.

Managing Pain and Distress in Long-Term Care is a self-paced Orientation course on pain management that will equip or refresh long-term care team members on the knowledge and skills required to support residents. Pain and distress often indicate a medical condition that requires assessment, intervention, and treatment.  A person can experience pain and distress in different ways including physically, socially, spiritually and psychologically. Our new course can equip clinical and non-clinical team members with the skills and confidence to recognize signs of pain and distress, and develop and implement pain management care plans.

 

Click here to access the eLearning course for clinical team members

Click here to access the eLearning course for non-clinical team members

 


This eLearning course, part of the Orientation course series, was developed by the Ontario CLRI at RIA in 2022 with the generous support of Schlegel Villages. We would like to thank the people who contributed to the development and review of content for this course including:

Trisha Wilson, RSW, Performance Improvement Lead, NW Regional Palliative Care Program, Hogarth Riverview Manor LTC, St Joseph’s Care Group

Gwendolyn Cleveland, RN, BScN, MEd, CHPCN(C), Palliative Pain and Symptom Management Consultant (PPSMC), Community Health Team, Scarborough Centre for Healthy Communities

Tara Moffatt MN, RN, CHPCN, CON, Palliative Pain and Symptom Management Consultant, Nipissing and Parry Sound Districts, VON Canada

Kim Arquette, Clinical Specialist, Schlegel Villages

 

Achieve your EDI goals with the 2023 Diversity and Inclusion Calendar!

The Ontario CLRI at Bruyere and the Ontario CLRI at RIA is excited to share the 2023 print Diversity and Inclusion Calendar. Our print calendars are available in English, and for the first time ever, in French!

The calendar features religious and spiritual days of significance, cultural celebrations, awareness days and health promotion days. Learning about the many cultures, religions and days of significance is fundamental to inclusion, and this calendar can help you achieve your EDI goals in your home.

Take some time to explore the dates within the calendar! Staying aware of these days and scheduling activities around them will help you create an inclusive home, 365 days a year. You can also follow the links to learn more about each date in our digital version.

This calendar has been developed as a resource for LTC teams to demonstrate commitment to honouring and celebrating diverse communities, cultures and faiths of those who live, visit and work in LTC homes.

We have been hearing from a number of organizations, including LTC homes and hospitals that are using the calendar regularly to support their planning, their learning, and it is helping to guide their communications both internally and externally about days of significance.

“At the City of Toronto, Seniors Services and Long-Term Care utilize the CLRI Diversity Calendar alongside the Days of Significance Calendar for the Toronto Public Service to advance Equity, Diversity and Inclusion when communicating to stakeholders, in divisional communication and when planning resident and client focused events and celebrations. We have very diverse LTC residents, community-based programs clients and staff members, and these tools are helping us support divisional initiatives such as the Confronting Anti-Black Racism in the Workplace Action Plan, Indigenous Cultural Competency and Advancing the Truth & Reconciliation Action Plan, and Leading & Learning with Pride: A Tool Kit, Video, and Campaign to enhance support for 2SLGBTQI+ Seniors.”

Jennifer Dockery, General Manager, City of Toronto, Seniors Services and Long-Term Care

Click here for the printable English calendars.

Click here for the printable French calendars.

New recipes for LTC homes are now available!

We’re excited to announce that our Nutrition in Disguise (NiD) team has added 17 new, delicious recipes to our NiD Recipes for Long-Term Care Homes resource, expanding our selection of recipes to 25!

From mouth watering desserts and sweet treats like bran choco chip cookies and orange creamsicles, to warm, hearty dishes like lasagna and soups, there is a nutritious meal here that you and residents in your home will enjoy and love.

These recipes are available at no-cost for families, care partners, food service team members, and others in LTC who assist with menu planning to add to your LTC home’s menu and eating programs. Each recipe is packed with nutrients to support residents’ health. 

Recipes are vetted by a dietitian, designed to be cost-efficient for LTC home budgets, and even resident-approved for taste, flavour, texture and appearance. You can download the recipes in PDF and in an editable Word format for your home’s customization.

Click here to view all of our recipes

 

Nutrition in Disguise 

The Nutrition in Disguise (NiD) project focuses on creating nutrient-dense recipes by adding healthy ingredients to common foods that LTC residents already enjoy.

Visit our Nutrition in Disguise page for additional resources and to learn more about this project.

 

Acknowledgments

The Nutrition in Disguise resources are made available through the Ontario CLRI at the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging (RIA). These resources are based on research completed by the RIA, the University of Waterloo and the University of Guelph, in partnership with Schlegel Villages. This research was made possible with the generosity of George Weston Limited and Loblaw Companies Limited.

         

New eLearning course on abuse prevention released

Screenshots of course on the eLearning platform with text “New! Orientation eLearning, Abuse Prevention in Long-Term Care”

Screenshots of course on the eLearning platform with text “New! Orientation eLearning, Abuse Prevention in Long-Term Care”The Ontario Centres for Learning, Research and Innovation in Long-Term Care (CLRI) at the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging (RIA) has released a new Orientation course on abuse prevention in long-term care: Preventing, Recognizing, and Reporting Abuse and Neglect in Long-Term Care. This course is available at no cost to support new and existing team members in fulfilling Ministry of LTC’s training requirements.

Understanding how to prevent abuse and neglect is a critical skill for LTC team members as they care for residents from a position of power and trust. Equipping team members with this skill and preparing them to recognize and report abuse allows Ontario LTC homes to better protect their residents and uphold their policies. By taking this course, team members will learn, at their own pace, the importance of following protocol in situations of abuse or neglect to ensure the safety of residents.

Visit our eLearning course.

 


New article highlights how the Ontario CLRI is putting research into practice

The Ontario CLRI collaborates with researchers to share their research findings and implement the evidence into practice in long-term care (LTC). The Ontario CLRI has learned the importance of collaborating with a variety of partners during this process and has published these learnings in a new article in Public Policy & Aging Report.

The article is authored by Stacey Guy and Shilpi Majumder, who support knowledge mobilization at the Ontario CLRI. It features the Ontario CLRI’s Nutrition in Disguise (NiD) project as an example. The NiD research showed that including nutrient-dense recipes on menus in LTC homes improves resident health outcomes. Ontario CLRI Knowledge Brokers sought insight from dietitians, menu planners and chefs to understand how menus are planned and recipes selected. Collaborations with chefs, culinary and nutrition students, LTC homes, and food distributors led to the development, testing, revision, and adoption of new nutrient-dense recipes for LTC home menus.

Key learnings from this work included the importance of building on existing relationships and creating new ones with additional collaborators. Recognizing the costs and benefits for all partners of implementing research evidence into practice was also important.

Click here to access the full article, Fulfilling the Potential of Evidence-Based Research: The

Collaborative Nature of Implementation, in Public Policy & Aging Report.

The Nutrition in Disguise resources are made available through the Ontario CLRI at the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging (RIA). These resources are based on research completed by the RIA, the University of Waterloo and the University of Guelph, in partnership with Schlegel Villages. This research was made possible with the generosity of George Weston Limited and Loblaw Companies Limited.

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:

New project provides financial support to long-term care for optimal clinical placements

Preceptor Resource and Education Program in Long-Term Care (PREP-LTC)

Ontario long-term care homes will receive education and financial support to provide optimal clinical placements for personal support worker and nursing students through the Preceptor Resource and Education Program for Long-Term Care (PREP LTC) project. This $73M project, funded by the Ministry of Long-Term Care, is being led by the Ontario CLRI at the  Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging (RIA) in collaboration with the Ontario CLRI teams at Baycrest Health Sciences and Bruyère. 

Over the next three years, backfill funds will be sent to eligible Ontario long-term care homes to support more than 15,000 student placements and train more than 17,000 preceptors in homes across the province. PREP LTC will help build a highly-skilled workforce to address the staffing needs of the long-term care sector. 

We are thrilled to lead this project and support successful student clinical placements in long-term care,” said Tina Mah, PhD, Executive Director of the RIA. “This project not only supports students in gaining much-needed skills and experience in working with older adults but encourages them to pursue meaningful careers in the long-term care sector.”

PREP LTC will provide long-term care homes with financial support to host student placements for personal support workers, registered and registered practical nurses, and build capacity to accommodate future placements. In addition, the project will develop eLearning and mentoring tools to equip long-term care preceptors or mentors with the necessary skills to support positive and successful student placements.   

The PREP LTC team will build on the success of the Ministry-funded Preceptor Education Program (PEP) in collaboration with the University of Western Ontario and Fanshawe College, developing eLearning courses specific to long-term care. PREP LTC will also strengthen and establish new partnerships between homes and educators to increase opportunities for placements. 

Ontario long-term care homes that had active student clinical placements in the 2021-22 fiscal year are eligible for funding. 

Apply for PREP LTC funding

Read MLTC press release

 

 

Get ready for 2022 with new printable Diversity and Inclusion Calendars

Is your LTC home looking to find ways to honour diversity and support inclusion?

The Ontario CLRI at Bruyère and the Ontario CLRI at RIA are excited to announce the launch of the two printable Diversity and Inclusion Calendars! We have created two versions of the printable calendar in the hopes of best supporting LTC homes’ equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) journeys. The printable calendars are intended for residents, educators, recreation managers and teams.

Bulletin Board EDI Calendar

The first version of the calendar is in a graphic format. This calendar offers large print text, beautiful seasonal visuals, and descriptions! This bulletin board version is ideal for residents to hang up in their rooms, or to hang in the common area bulletin boards. Putting the Diversity and Inclusion Calendar in a visible space will help encourage conversations and awareness about diversity and inclusion.

The bulletin board version can be printed either as a 12-month document or by month. To view and print the bulletin version of the Diversity and Inclusion Calendar, check out the following link clri-ltc.ca/resource/diversitycalendar-print/.

EDI Planning Calendar

The second version of the new printable Diversity and Inclusion Calendar is in a list format. This version is most broadly intended to be usedQuote image: thank you so much for doing this and sharing it with us, it saves the Life Enrichment Team so much time - the resourceful info is at our fingertips and we can offer even more programs and celebrate with all our residents and staff. It also enables us to feel more connected virtually with others in the field” by recreation team members, leaders and educators. The list format includes descriptions of all day-long, week-long, and month-long events. Each event is categorized as religious and spiritual, cultural celebration, or awareness and health promotion days.
We hope that having all of these events accessible in one place will help team members plan activities to support diversity and inclusion within their homes. The planning version of the calendar includes links on all event titles, which will take users to additional sources to allow for continued learning when planning activities.

 

The planning calendar is available to be printed as a 12-month document, but users can use printing options to select specific months if desired. To view and print the planning version of the Diversity and Inclusion Calendar, check out the following link clri-ltc.ca/diversitycalendar-print.

An important note for the calendars is that not all events have released their 2022 date. We have included TBA* (to be announced) into the calendars as placeholders. Please consult the digital version of the calendar, which will be updated when dates become available. To learn more about the events listed in the calendar, explore our Digital Diversity and Inclusion Calendar, which can be accessed at clri-ltc.ca/diversitycalendar.

 

How can the calendars be used?

There are many ways the Diversity and Inclusion Calendars can be used to support the shift to a more inclusive environment. Acknowledging and honouring events is a way to support people in feeling seen. For example, February is Black History Month. Some ways a home might honour this event is by:

  • inviting guest speakers
  • showing film, art, or literature by Black artists
  • making a display board featuring biographical information about notable Black individuals

The digital calendar includes links for every date so that users can deepen their knowledge. We encourage people to take time to learn about different cultures, religions, and awareness days, and consider what action you can take as an individual and organizationally to be more inclusive.

We look forward to hearing all the great ways the two new printable calendars are used in LTC homes! If you are interested in providing us with feedback, please contact us at info@clri-ltc.ca.

 

New Tool To Increase Person-Centred Language Use in Your LTC Home

The Ontario CLRI at the RIA and the Behavioural Supports Ontario (BSO) Provincial Coordinating Office are pleased to release our latest product to support the ongoing implementation of Person-Centred Language (PCL): a Word Swap Poster.

This one-page poster invites readers to consider swapping out common words in favour of PCL in everyday conversations. The poster is available in French and English and contains a total of 15 examples under four categories: people, places, actions, and items.

We hope these examples can inspire you to reflect on the power of words when supporting people living and working in LTC, care partners, and anyone with, or at risk of, responsive behaviours/personal expressions.

Download the poster today at clri-ltc.ca/wordswap 

We invite you to share the poster with your networks and to let us know how you have implemented PCL into practice by emailing BSO at provincialbso@nbrhc.on.ca or by using #WordsMatterPCL on social media.

Release of French IPAC and Nursing Leadership eLearning Courses

The Ontario CLRI is proud to announce the release of our French IPAC and Clinical Nursing Leadership eLearning courses. These courses were developed with experts from the IPAC and nursing community in Canada. Courses can be used to train Registered Nurses (RNs), Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs), PSWs, LTC team members, volunteers and families or essential care partners.

IPAC courses now in French

  • Break the Chain of Transmission: IPAC Core Concepts and Practices – This eLearning Course reviews the IPAC core concepts and practices that are essential for preventing and controlling infection. It is the prerequisite for the scenario-based courses in the IPAC series. The course is for LTC team members and essential caregivers.
  • IPAC While Travelling to and From an LTC Home – This eLearning course will apply the skills and knowledge from Break the Chain of Transmission to typical situations that can happen while travelling to and from an LTC home. The course is for LTC team members and essential caregivers.
  • IPAC While Supporting Residents at Mealtime  – This eLearning course will apply the skills and knowledge from Break the Chain of Transmission to scenarios about supporting a resident at mealtime in an LTC home. The course is for LTC team members and essential caregivers.

Clinical Nursing Leadership  courses now in French

  • Module 1: Communicating Effectively  – This module allows nurses to use effective communication techniques in a variety of contexts and with a variety of people(e.g., colleagues, residents, families, different departments, etc.). Nurses will learn the difference between effective and ineffective communication approaches, be able to describe techniques for giving feedback and recognize the possible consequences of effective and ineffective communication techniques. Anticipated outcomes include improved communication skills to increase team morale and provide the best quality of life for residents.
  • Module 2: Handling Conflict with Care  – This module allows nurses to use effective strategies for managing conflict in a variety of contexts and with a variety of people (e.g. colleagues, residents, families, different departments, etc.). Nurses will learn how to describe several effective strategies for managing conflict and recognize several ineffective strategies for managing conflict and recognize the possible consequences of both approaches. Anticipated outcomes include improved ability to manage conflict and the ability to model how to handle conflict with care.
  • Module 3: Being a Leader – This module will help nurses recognize how they can demonstrate leadership in their day-to-day work. Nurses will learn how to describe characteristics of transformational leaders, recognize myths and misconceptions about leadership, and recognize the differences and similarities between a manager and a leader. Anticipated outcomes include improved understanding of how to develop leadership skills and how to show clinical leadership on the job.

For more information, or to access these French eLearning courses, visit: https://learn.clri-ltc.ca/?lang=fr.