The Carolinas Foundation for Hospice & Home Care, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, supports the work of the Association for Home and Hospice Care of North Carolina, a nonprofit trade association representing providers of home health, hospice, palliative care, personal care, private duty nursing, companion/sitter services, and other business partners that supply products and services to these providers. The Carolinas Foundation received funding to develop, pilot, and roll-out an industry recommended standardized training curriculum and onboarding model for use by licensed home care agencies with newly hired in-home aides to ensure that workers have the knowledge, skills, and competencies to provide safe, quality care for patients. In addition, the program will develop an industry issued certificate for successful trainees and a train-the-trainer program for RN trainers. The entire project is for 2 ½ years and was able to receive its full funding needs for the remaining portions of the project from partnerships with the SECU Foundation and Carolina Complete Health.    

The CCME Foundation provided a $50,000 grant to kickstart the essential year-one activities, which included development of a standardized training curriculum and onboarding model, conducting train-the-trainer events for selected pilot projects, and begin implementation of up to 12 pilot projects in North Carolina. Funding covers part-time project staffing costs, development of the curriculum and onboarding model, development of the train-the-trainer program, and development of processes for issuing certificates from the Association of Home and Hospice Care of North Carolina to the aides who successfully complete the training. Seventeen draft modules have been identified for inclusion in the curriculum and drafts of the modules have been developed. Key stakeholders and a focus group, comprised of representatives from several licensed home care agencies, will review the drafts prior to finalizing the training modules to be piloted. The program is expected to begin pilot project implementation by late summer or early fall 2025.  

The curriculum will be user friendly, ensure consistency throughout the industry, and include PowerPoint presentations, notes views, recorded content, handouts, and activities. The program is expected to be very useful for agencies and their trainees by making the training visual, auditory, and interactive. The modules are front-loaded for agencies to be able to do the main courses first with skills training and additional courses. Modules include topics such as history, communications, legal and ethical matters, HIPPA, personal safety, and time management. In addition, topics focusing on patient safety and quality care and specific modules on dementia care and challenging behaviors round out the more patient-centric training. After the 2 ½ year program is fully implemented, it is expected to expand into South Carolina. 

Learn more about the work of the Carolinas Foundation for Hospice & Home Care and the Association of Home and Hospice Care of North Carolina.