McKenney Home Care helps employees hone skills with continuing education and training program
Naples, FL: Becoming a nurse or other healthcare professional requires years of education, but the learning doesn’t stop there. After earning certification or licensing, healthcare professionals are required to complete annual continuing education (CE).
McKenney Home Care, Southwest Florida’s largest family-owned private duty home care agency, recently introduced a bi-annual continuing education and training program to ensure all its caregivers are up-to-date and enrich their knowledge of disease states, conditions, techniques and personal dynamics. More than 150 employees recently attended the company’s two-day program held in its Naples and Sarasota offices.
“Having well-trained, knowledgeable employees helps McKenney Home Care distinguish itself and helps reduce turnover,” says Patrice Magrath who founded the expanding home care agency with her sister Michele McKenney 10 years ago in Naples. “Overall, continuing education is vital in the home health care industry to safeguard competent and compassionate care, keep up with industry advancements, meet regulatory requirements, and improve outcomes.”
McKenney’s program offers a mix of topics including an Alzheimer’s disease overview, confidentiality and HIPAA updates, emergency preparedness, fall prevention, infection control, and safety in the workplace.
“Continuing education is essential because of the diversity and complexity of our clients and their immense needs,” says Administrator Michele Leftwich, RN. “It’s also a way to make certain our teams develop new skills and builds camaraderie, which leads to greater confidence and job satisfaction,” she adds, noting the McKenney program meets educational requirements to maintain licenses or certifications, unifies employees and upholds McKenney’s gold standard of care consistently throughout the caregiver pool.
“Sharing stories and techniques for handling complex situations with other caregivers is also a great way to boost morale which benefits both home caregivers and clients.”