Are you a family caregiver who’s caring for someone with a dementia diagnosis? Or maybe you’re a paid, professional caregiver like a personal care aide or home health aide working for an agency? Chances are, you already have a pretty good handle on the tasks you help your care recipient with. So, what’s the big deal with caregiver certification anyway? 

Dementia care is tough. No matter if you’re part of the group of experienced caregivers or a brand new caregiver who’s just starting your journey, helping someone with dementia comes with unique challenges that continually change as the disease and care needs progress. 

A training program like the one Trualta offers provides official caregiver certification. This can help you level up your knowledge, skills, and confidence as a caregiver so that you can face new challenges head-on with a comprehensive set of care strategies to face them. 

Certification programs can offer training on topics like:

• Communication skills
• Personal care skills
• Safe positioning for mobility and transfers
• Medication management
• Legal and ethical considerations
• Emergency preparedness
• Safety and infection control
• Self-care
• Professional development 

Certified caregiver training can put you ahead of the curve in your professional caregiver career. In fact, researchers say that a strong direct care workforce requires updated training to prepare them to care for the increasingly complex care needs of our population. A certification will demonstrate to employers and patients alike that you are a credible expert. This gives you more caregiver jobs to choose from.

Learn New Care Strategies

There are various types of dementia care strategies you can learn in a caregiver certification program.

1. Communication Skills 

Effective communication is key to fostering a person-centered care approach when caring for those with a dementia diagnosis. It can also help make providing care that much easier. 

In a caregiver certification program, you will learn communication skills like:

• Communicating with simple, clear messages to help your care recipient better understand. 
• Using both verbal and non-verbal communication like visuals and body language to convey your messages.
• Using active listening skills to understand your care recipient and help them feel understood. 
• Tailoring your communication approaches to meet their needs as they progress.
• Understanding and addressing the unmet needs they communicate through challenging behaviors. 

2. Personal Care Skills

Helping with personal care tasks can be challenging and uncomfortable. Caregiver training can teach practical ways to make this part of care easier. Trualta’s training program teaches you how to:

• Offer hands-on help with dressing, regardless of what stage of dementia someone is experiencing. 
• Use tools and equipment to simplify tasks, like long-handled sponges or removable shower heads.
• Help with oral care. For example, using hand-over-hand techniques to help with toothbrushing and flossing.
• Complete skin checks and ensure skin integrity. 
• Make showering and bathing easier by using verbal, visual, and tactile prompts.
• Set up the environment to make it more comfortable, accessible, and safe.
• Assist with toileting and incontinence and help them use any incontinence products. 
• Maintain dignity and respect while helping with personal care tasks.
  

3. Safe Positioning For Mobility & Transfers 

As dementia progresses, mobility needs may increase. Fall and injury prevention is important to keep both you and your care recipient safe. A training program teaches commonly overlooked topics. Some examples include how to:

• Remove fall hazards in the home like loose rugs, cords, or clutter.
• Safely lift your care recipient. For example, from their chair, or from the toilet.
• Transfer safely from lying or seated positions to standing, and vice versa
• Use tools and equipment like sliding boards or mechanical lifts to make transfers easier and safer. 
• Apply proper body mechanics when helping with mobility and transfers to protect yourself from injury.
• Use basic mobility aids like canes, walkers, and wheelchairs.
  

4. Medication Management

With chronic conditions comes managing multiple medications. Progressive cognitive and memory challenges call for help in managing medications. As a paid caregiver, a certification program highlights your involvement in medication management depending on your scope of practice. 

Your level of assistance with medication management can vary widely. Specialized training highlights your role in this. You will be able to:

• Understand common medications and their importance in your care recipient’s care.
• Use care plan notes to monitor for changes in your care recipient’s symptoms while on different medications. 
• Organize and store medications according to best practices. 
• Set reminders and use strategies to help your care recipient with medication adherence.
• Handle medication errors, like missing doses or taking medications twice.

5. Legal & Ethical Considerations 

As a professional caregiver or practitioner, you should know your legal obligations when helping with dementia care. Similarly, as a family caregiver, you should note ethical considerations that are commonly overlooked. A certification program can teach you:

• The importance of informed consent and how to get it from your care recipient at different stages of their disease. 
• Cultural sensitivity and person-centered care approaches to ensure compassionate, inclusive, and respectful care at all times.
• How to recognize and report abuse, especially when providing dementia care or senior care more generally.
• Professional boundaries you must uphold.  
• Protection of your care recipient’s privacy and confidentiality. 
• How to advocate for your care recipient’s rights.

6. Emergency Preparedness & Basic First Aid 

Let’s face it: An emergency can be scary! You can make it easier by preparing and making a plan. A certification and training program can teach you how to:

• Measure for vital signs like oxygen levels, blood pressure, and heart rate.
• Recognize medical emergencies like heart attacks, allergic reactions, or a stroke.
• Fulfill your role and legal obligations in providing CPR and basic first aid.
• Make a plan for an emergency, like gathering important information ahead of time.
• Manage a variety of emergency situations like natural disasters, medical emergencies, fires, or mental health crises.

7. Safety & Infection Control 

Becoming a true certified caregiver means you’ll be an expert in maintaining safety and infection control when providing home care. Caregiver training will teach you the following: 

• How to complete safety checks at home to reduce the risk of injury from tripping, falls, and burns.
• Ways to practice proper hand hygiene that protects both you and your care recipient from spreading infectious diseases.
• What the different standard precautions mean and how you can follow them while providing home care.
• How to use personal protective equipment (PPE) like gloves, masks, and gowns effectively.
• Hazardous waste management. 
• How to provide care for immunocompromised care recipients.

8. Self-Care

Caregiving is rewarding but tough. Self-care is incredibly important in making sure you’re taken care of, too! That way, you can provide the best quality care. A training program will discuss:

• Recognizing and reducing stress and burnout.
• Prioritizing your tasks to make caregiving easier and help you manage multiple responsibilities.

9. Professional Development 

If you’re a paid caregiver, certification is one of the best ways to upgrade your skills and demonstrate your knowledge to both current and future employers. In addition to the benefits of completing a training program, the certification will teach you how to:

• Find employment. 
• Navigate interviews. 
• Advance your career in your caregiving journey.

What’s Next?

So, you’ve decided a caregiver certification would be helpful. What should you do or expect next? 

Decide what type of certification is right for you. You may decide a diagnosis-specific certification is best. Or, you may be looking for a free, on-demand resource to use at your convenience.  

Certifications like Trualta’s can be both comprehensive and practical, offering you the opportunity to learn at your own pace. A certification exam is offered at the end to demonstrate to employers that you’ve met the training requirements and are officially ready to provide quality care! 

Want to check if you have free access to Trualta? It takes less than a minute. 

References:

1.  Stone, R. (2021). Developing a quality home care workforce to complement family caregivers and bridge the emerging care gap. In Bridging the family care gap (pp. 321-340). Academic Press.
2. https://www.cielgr.com/blog/the-importance-and-benefits-of-caregiver-certification 
3. https://amyseden.com/caregiver-certification/