A personal support worker (PSW) is a person who provides assistance to people who are unable to do certain tasks independently, due to physical or mental disabilities, and/or certain illnesses. Personal support workers play a vital role in the health industry by providing care in the home or in a residential facility, ensuring clients’ comfort, safety, and emotional well-being. Being a PSW is more than “just a job” because one has to connect emotionally to intertwine in the client’s personal life taking care of even minor details.
In the United States, personal care aides provide services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities; this is also known as “direct support”, “personal aide”, “personal care attendant” or “home support worker”, and these titles vary depending upon the care or facility these workers provide.
In Canada, over 6 million Canadians aged 65 or older, constituting 15.6 percent of Canada’s population, were recorded in 2014. Considering the ratio, it has become difficult for the kinfolks to look after their elders due to workload, etc and they are now looking out for these workers. Personal support workers are employed in hospitals, nursing homes, retirement homes, and other long-term care facilities. They may also work in private residences such as those of elderly people who have difficulty caring for themselves. These support workers may also work with people with mental illness or those recovering from some sort of drug or any other addiction.
A personal support worker needs to be compassionate towards the patient. They also need to have good communication skills in order to understand the patient’s needs better. Furthermore, they should be able to handle stressful situations calmly and effectively and help them by providing compassionate care and assisting them with their activities of daily living
WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM A PERSONAL SUPPORT WORKER?
Personal Support Workers generally perform the following major duties:
- Taking care of a sick person or a whole family
- Helping client with daily living activities such as feeding, taking to the toilet or anywhere else, bathing, taking care of client’s personal hygiene, keeping track of medications, dressing, and much more.
- Running errands and housekeeping chores such as buying groceries, preparing meals, doing laundry, picking and dropping off kids(if any), cleaning and maintaining client’s room and/or house.
- Make sure the client is taking medicines as per prescription.
- Assisting client in daily exercise to ease his/her journey of recovery.
- Spending time with the client to entertain him/her by reading a book, watching a movie together, or maybe a stroll out in open nature.
- Reporting client’s condition and attitude to the agency or the employer.
While hiring one for your loved ones, make sure they are qualified enough with a degree as no one wants to put their family’s life at stake.
CAREER AS A PERSONAL SUPPORT WORKER
A career as a PSW can be much more rewarding than you can ever think of. Serving humanity never goes out of style. If you are someone who loves to spend their valuable time with people making difference in their lives with your presence or fostering relations or friendships, then this job can be a perfect option for you as a career.
Being a PSW is not as easy as it sounds but definitely worth it. It’s a very short course varying from a few weeks to months depending upon the college offering the course. If you are a student and looking for a job on an urgent basis to help your finances or planning to switch your career, the PSW profession is best for you for various reasons.
Being a PSW gives you the ease of breaking away from your 9-5 job lending you plenty of time for yourself. You have access to a very flexible schedule as the clients generally fix their timings according to their needs. You can schedule your daily chores or run your errands along with this job.
Also if you are planning to pursue a higher degree in the medical field, your experience as a PSW can turn out to be the best decision of your life. You will be able to learn and develop a wide range of abilities mainly values, tolerance, and respect for others. You also might be able to get an opportunity to participate or work in cross-disciplinary and/or interprofessional learning opportunities with the other members of the care team for instance; Registered Nursing or Social Workers.
According to research in Ontario, Canada, the median salary of a Personal Support Worker varies between 18$ per hour to 25$ per hour.
PERSONAL SUPPORT WORKER ONLINE COURSE AT ELITE COLLEGE, ONTARIO:
In order to become a professional personal support worker in Ontario, you must have a PSW certificate from an educational institution approved by the Ministry of Colleges and Universities. For the students who are debating whether to start their careers as PSWs or whether the training is right for them or not, if you are passionate to help elderly, sick, or disabled people and want a quick start in the health profession nothing can be better than PSW profession. It’s high time you should consider starting your career because, since the pandemic, the demand for front-line workers has shot up.
We at Elite College of Business and Health Care in Ontario offer a Personal Support Worker course to provide students with a more flexible learning experience. We offer approximately 42.5 weeks of PSW course which will instill a combination of skills training, lab work, and clinical placements in students to prepare them for their careers that will help them to confidently enter the workforce. During your time in the PSW course, you will gain experience in caring and dealing with persons of varying ages enabling you to deal with clients of any age in your career. Additionally, you will learn to effectively communicate and collaborate with members of the interprofessional health care team. The certificate of Personal Support Worker online course will help you get a good job with a good stipend in a well-reputed agency or client. Alumni of Elite College are earning a handsome amount of salary and growing in their field as health workers.
YOU WILL LEARN THE FOLLOWING SKILLS
The skills and knowledge of Elite College of Business and Health Care will give you the flexibility to adapt to various settings such as hospitals, homes, schools, retirement homes, old age homes, community residential agencies, and long-term or chronic-care facilities. After the completion of the course at Elite College, you will have the ability to
- Take care and manage hygiene of sick, elderly, or disabled
- Provide medical assistance
- Perform housekeeping chores
- Provide palliative and restorative activities
- Prepare meals for the client
- Provide informal counseling
- Family management
- Deal with clients with cognitive impairment and mental health issues
- Act responsibly and be accountable for your actions while recognizing the nature and boundaries of your work
To conclude, Personal Support Workers, carry a huge responsibility for clients on their shoulders, and the acts of trustworthiness, honesty, compassion and credibility go a long way in helping to connect with the clients. If you want to start your job or career as a compassionate PSW, contact us for more information or visit our website.
Elite college’s online personal support worker certificate online course equips the knowledge needed as a personal support worker