Personal Care Aide

The Personal Care Aide (PCA) program is intended to prepare students for a new role in agencies that provide care to elderly at various levels of independence. The role combines basic nursing skills, psychosocial skills, resource management and administrative skills needed to provide holistic care to seniors who require services that allow them to live independently in a structured or unstructured environment.

The student who completes Personal Care Aide (PCA) program will be able to provide direct and indirect services to seniors and be a valuable resource for the senior, the facility and the community in which the seniors are located. The PCA will have a skill set to care for patients with dementia and other memory related problems. In conclusion, the PCA will have caregiving skills appropriate for elder care. They will fill a niche in senior services.

Annually, 60 students are projected to earn the certificate.  

The Personal Care Aide program is intended to prepare students for a new role in agencies that provide care to elderly at various levels of independence. The role combines basic nursing skills, psychosocial skills, resource management and administrative skills needed to provide holistic care to seniors who require services that allow them to live as independently as possible in a structured or unstructured environment.

Student  who complete Personal Care Aide (PCA) program will be able to provide direct and indirect services to seniors and be a valuable resource for the senior, the facility and the community in which the seniors are located. The PCA will have a skill set to care for patients with dementia and other memory related problems. In conclusion, the PCA will have caregiving skills appropriate for elder care. They will fill a niche in senior services.

Upon completion of the Certificate program, students will be able to:

Assess and provide proper patient care techniques, including physical and psychosocial, for the elderly in a variety of health and patient care settings in accordance with industry legal, ethical, and medical standards and regulations.

Demonstrate interpersonal behaviors supportive of the development and maintenance of safe, respectful, ethical, and culturally sensitive peer and patient relationships.

Course	Title	Units	Year/Semester (Y1 or S1)
HLTHOCC062 HLTHOCC063	Skills Set for the Health Care Professional Basic Medical Terminology, Pathophysiology and Pharmacology	2                   2	S1        S1
HLTHOCC064 HLTHOCC065	Cultural and Legal Topics for Health Care Professionals Fundamentals for the Health Care Professional	1                2.5	S1         S1
HEALTH046	Basic Life Support CPR/AED for the Healthcare Provider	1	S2
Psych001	General Psychology I	3 units	S2
HLTHOCC049	Fundamentals of Elder Care	5 units	S2

                                                                                 

                                      

The program is part of the Stackable Certificates within Allied Health

Nurse Assistant/Aide and Patient Care Assistant/Aide

2014-2015: 1489 2015-2016: 1350 2016-2017: 1583