Nurse Aide Program

A Nurse Aide Program Representative from Universal Care Home Health Agency will discuss your career goals and aspirations, then offer recommendations about the certificate programs that are available to you. You'll learn more about Universal Care Home Health Agency students and Universal Care Home Health Agency instructors! 

Introduction to Long Term Care

A skill intensive course designed to orient and instruct the student in the role of the nurse aide. Lecture hours teach the student what to expect when working in a long-term care facility and how to effectively communicate with geriatric residents. Students will learn about Moscow’s Theory of Hierarchy and the Kubler-Ross’ theories on death and dying. Students will learn how to recognize and respect the rights of the aged and a continued usefulness and happiness, considering all needs including social, spiritual, emotional, and physical. They will learn about residents and confidentiality. They will also learn how to make residents their number one PRIORITY. They will learn how to communicate with the residents who have vision and hearing loss with suggested techniques and procedures for dealing with the problems associated with residents who have speech and memory disorders.

Personal Care Skills

In this course, students will learn how to take care of the personal needs of the residents and to assist in activities of daily living. Skills acquired in this course include: Bathing the resident, hair care, caring for dentures and oral care; (How to brush a resident’s teeth, shaving a resident with an electric razor and a disposable safety razor), nail care, dressing, and perinea care with and without a Foley Catheter. Students will learn how to be neat and well groomed at all times and pay attention to their own hygiene and cleanliness. Students will also learn how to assist patients with their personal hygiene, dressing, grooming, nutrition, and hydration by feeding the helpless, elimination and rest/sleep and comfort. They will learn how to give all these levels of care to all patients regardless of their racial or religious belief and show equal courtesy and respect to all patients.

Basic Nursing Skills

In this course, students will develop skills in taking vital signs including blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and temperature. Other skills learned in this course include: How to assist with meals and feeding use, details about making beds that are unoccupied, weighing the resident, measuring intake and output, charting, and reporting changes in patient’s condition. The students will learn about infection control measures, safety and emergency situation, therapeutic procedures, data collection and reporting to the Charge Nurse

Restorative Services

In this course, students will begin to develop skills in helping the patient maintain/increase mobility and range of motion. The students will learn how to give care to the resident to attain and maintain the highest possible level of independence and functional ability (physical and psychosocial) – how to motivate the resident with positive reinforcement, re-motivation and boost their self-esteem, “Being the best that you can be”. Students will learn how to assist in ambulation and proper use of ambulation aids, such as walkers, gait belts, canes, and crutches, including techniques on how to accomplish required mobility tasks without injuring the residents or self.

Mental Health &  Social Services Needs

This course covers how to meet the psychosocial needs of the resident with memory loss or confusion with an emphasis on how to deal with residents who are angry or demanding. Students will be introduced to Erickson’s Stages of Development and will learn how to approach the resident calmly with patience and how to frequently reorient confused residents and how to actively listen to and meet the needs of a resident that is angry and/or demanding. Students will learn how to deal with residents’ families. Students will also learn how to provide empathy, patience, encouragement, enthusiasm and praise.

Social Skills & Clinical Practice

This Social Skills course covers how to deal with conflicts with CNAs, conflicts with co-workers, conflicts with a supervisor, conflicts with residents, and workplace conflicts. Students will also cover technology units such as, use of technology in resident care, benefits, social media, and the prohibited use of cell phones. For Clinical Practice, the student will gain “hands on” experience with actual residents at a nursing home. They will be demonstrating and perfecting skills learned in all previous courses under the supervision of the instructor. Students will practice the skills needed in order to pass the state test. There will be a total of 13 externs or less at each clinical site.