Healthcare Support - Major Award (DHSXX)
Course Overview
This award is designed to meet the training needs of Healthcare Assistants within the Health Service in the Mid-west region, or to prepare people for work as Healthcare Assistants.
Healthcare assistants are valuable members of the healthcare team working under the supervision of a registered nurse or other professional. Nowadays, care assistants are the primary providers of day to day care for their clients and as such they are vital to the provision of high quality care for those in need of assistance.
This FETAC Major Award can be taken part-time by those who already have a suitable work placement or by those who are seeking work in residential, nursing, or community centres. It can also be taken as a day release course where the employer is sponsoring of the learner’s training.
Course Content
General Aims:
- To enhance the knowledge and practical skills of those working in the area of Healthcare whether professionally or as volunteers
- To develop the confidence and communication skills of Healthcare Assistants
- To increase the participants’ knowledge of the issues affecting clients or residents whether this need arises from aging, illness, or disability
- To provide participants with an ethical framework within which they can recognise the value their own work and the importance of personal attention to the client.
- To enable the participants to understand the roles of the other members of the health care team.
- To give a general understanding of the Health Service including the statutory and voluntary care provision sectors
Mandatory Modules
• Care Skills (D20163)
• Care Support (D20164)
• Safety and Health at Work (D20165)
• Communications (G2001)
• Work Experience (W2008)
Elective Modules
• Introduction to Nursing (D20012) • Care of the Older Person (D20180)
• Palliative Care support (D20170)
Assessment
Modules are assessed in a variety of ways. Work Experience is mandatory for this qualification and many of the assessments refer to on-the-job experience. There is a practical orientation to the assessment process and methods of assessment include the learner’s collection of work, assignments and work related projects. Examinations are compulsory in the Safety and Health at Work and the Introduction to Nursing Modules, but they only constitute part of the results.
Award
Upon successful completion of the module participants will be awarded a FETAC Level 5 Major Award in Healthcare Support..
Entry Requirements
Participants should have a Leaving Certificate and/or relevant life and work experiences.
Duration
The programme will be run over 2 x 34 week academic years
Most modules require 27 hours in the classroom. These hours are broken into nine sessions with three hours in each session. The Work Experience Module will be combined with the Communications Module and will be given 40 classroom hours. The total number of tuition hours is 202 with two hours for examinations included in the programme.