Description |
Physical therapy aides are being used for rehabilitation services in increasing numbers as a result of managed care programs and a need to reduce health care costs. In addition, the growing numbers of the frail elderly population have increased the need for rehabilitation services. However, physical therapy aides are not consistently trained or properly prepared for the job they are expected to perform. Thus, the goal of this research project was to design a training workshop to educate physical therapy aides with a minimum level o f knowledge needed fo r working with geriatric patients in long-term care settings. Chapter I examines the history and background regarding the use of physical therapy aides. Chapter II discusses the national regulatory policy of the American Physical Therapy Association, as well as the legal statutes in Utah regarding current use of physical therapy aides in the physical therapy profession. Chapter III proposes the rationale for the project, which is based on the literature review, legal implications, and demographics of the elderly population. Chapter IV provides an overview of the training program, including educational aims, prerequisites for participants, topics to be included, budgetary considerations, instructor's qualifications, location and format of the workshop, and sequence of topics. All participants in the workshop will have obtained their certified nursing assistant (CNA) and will have some physical therapy experience. Therefore, it is assumed that they will have an understanding of basic health care procedures and physical therapy techniques and practices. However, because of the diversity of educational levels that might be characteristic of the health care associates taking the course, the course content will be very basic and uncomplicated by technical jargon, which might be too difficult for some attendees to understand. It should be noted, however, that the majority of physical therapy aides are college students or college graduates who are attempting to gain experience in order to improve their chance of being accepted into physical therapy or physical therapist assistant school. They are usually very interested in learning about physical therapy, and their educational levels and socioeconomic levels are likely to be higher than the average CNA working in long-term care. In most facilities, becoming a physical therapy aide is considered a promotion for the CNA who has been an outstanding and responsible employee in patient care. Therefore, CNAs who work in the physical therapy department have been selected for their skills that typically transcend the minimum expertise of the CNA, Because of physical therapy aides' interest in the physical therapy profession, they are usually more highly motivated to learn and remain on the job. Chapter V addresses adult education principles and methods of instruction to maximize adult learning for this workshop. These principles and methods were used in designing the methods of instruction for each training session. Each topic is discussed in Chapter VI, with objectives, time allotted, content, methods of instruction, and materials to be used specified for each session. Footnotes were used to identify the sources from which the material for each part of the course content should be extracted. In this way, instructors and participants will be able to find the actual material; thus, the course information will be more consistent. A suggested schedule is provided to demonstrate that the course can be held and completed over a 3-day period. An examination is included in Chapter VII of the proposed workshop to test knowledge and competency (based on the objectives of the workshop); it includes short-answer and practical-test sections. The Appendix provides answers to the examination. Individual facilities will be able to determine whether or not they want to provide a certificate or other indicator of completion to verify that participants have satisfactorily mastered the information provided in the training workshop. This workshop does not claim to prepare physical therapy aides for all geriatric knowledge areas in physical therapy, but it does provide a substantial foundation for increased consistency and more standard training in the domain of long-term care settings. |