Module 5: Leadership & LTC Practice
124 5.2.3 Leading: Education
Residents in LTC have more complex chronic conditions, mobility or behavioural limitations, and higher acuity, which requires knowledge and skills of geriatric syndromes, palliative care, and acute changes in order to provide the level of care needed by the resident.
The LTC home leaders ensure the workforce has access to ongoing training on safety practices, continuous learning and career development.
LTC staffing ratios and skill mix should consider nursing competencies, experience, skills and education.
Learning activities should align with the LTC home’s mission and values, residents’ needs, and the workforce member’s role and plans for development.
The presence of NPs in LTC homes allows for point of care staff education, a mentoring environment and enables the multidisciplinary team to work at full scope.
Barriers to Education:
Nursing professional practice:
- Enhance the professional development of LTC nurses through mentoring and planned educational offerings
- Develop a two-way communication
- Promote current nursing opportunities for growth and education.
- Engage health system providers and educational institutions to create innovative education and training opportunities in LTC.
- Exploring nursing capacity barriers for all nurses to work to full scope
Professional practice: Continuously upgrade education to maintain current evidence based skills and knowledge
- Identify trends related to key practice issues related to care of older persons, activities of daily living, chronic disease management, mental health, regulatory changes, to integrate into educational programming.
- Promote and implement evidence‐based practice
- Participation of staff in program‐based quality and risk management initiatives.
- Assess educational needs of staff, implement educational plans
- Develop coaching and mentoring programs in partnership with staff, and other stakeholders
- Develop and implement a tracking system of continuing education and professional development.