b'RESIDENT CARE TRAINING COOPERATIVEA new vision forLTC staff orientationA modular approach aims to streamlinethe onboarding process for long-term care employeesA It didnt help, Martin continues, thatverified and recognized when they new staff orientation initiative is being created tomuch of the staff orientation work feltcame in through the door?streamline and accelerateredundant: The people coming in the onboarding process for long- had already gone through orientation"That\'s when we looked at micro-term care employees. Called theat another home, but now we had tocredentialling," says Vascotto. "It\'s a Resident Care Training Cooperative,start from scratch. We all live by thedifferent way of doing the training the modular approach aims to equipsame regulations, so it didnt makewhere long-term care professionals incoming long-term care staff withsense that we couldnt carry can take short, competency-based sector-specific micro-credentials (akathat along. training modules that demonstrate modules) that comply with regulationsthey aren\'t just able to read a piece Forming the visionof training and repeat it back, but and are universally recognized by supporting homes.With orientation paperwork growingthat they have proven they have the and staff frustrations mounting, Martincompetencies to perform theirThe initiative is being hosted by Visionand her team turned to their partnersroles in a real long-term care74 Inc., a non-profit organizationat Lambton College for a betterhome environment."located in Sarnia that operates Visionsolution. Thats when Sandy Vascotto, Nursing Home and Vision Rest Home.Director of the Colleges InnovationWith competency-based training Leaders have been working alongsideInstitute, began working closely withas the foundation, the team began Lambton College in Sarnia, Ontario,Martin and her team to envision abreaking down Ontario\'s long-term to design and pilot the program.more effective process. care training requirements into According to Heather Martin, CEO of28 micro-credentials that could Vision 74 Inc., the desire for a fasterWe realized the problem stemmedbe obtained by long-term care and more efficient way of bringingfrom the fact there was a pushdownemployees and recognized by any new long-term care employees intoin terms of the legislative requirementshome that supports the micro-homes has always existed, but thewhen it came to training, but every pandemic provided extra motivation.home had its own way of interpretingcredentialing initiative. that, says Vascotto. That was leadingImportantly, notes Vascotto, A big "In April of 2020, we experiencedto a disparity in how people werething is we want to still give homes our first outbreak of COVID and, duebeing trained and qualified to thosethe autonomy to decide what training to several factors, we experiencedstandards, which meant that othermatters to them. So, the cooperative a 50% drop in employees overhomes hiring them couldnt countabout six weeks," Martin recalls.is really about providing 28 different on them being up to par with LEGO blocks so that any home "Suddenly, we were in a race to findtheir expectations. qualified replacements, which meantcould say, \'Yes, this works for us\' or conducting all the necessary dueThe team began to ask: Why was\'No, we won\'t recognize this and we diligence to ensure they met rigidthere a need to retrain staff and goneed something more specific.\' And if industry standards. Soon, we werethrough that process again? Couldthey don\'t want to accept one of the drowning in orientation processes andthere not be a method by which themicro-credentials, there is room to paperwork at a time when we wereskills and competencies required tocreate individually tailored templates already stretched thin."do the job in question were alreadyfor their homes or even specific roles." 32 LONG TERM CARE TODAY Spring/Summer 2023'