Real Life Carers and the Care Certificate - Part 2

iHASCO have created a complete eLearning package to cover the “theory” for those who are working towards their care certificate, with 15 separate concise and engaging courses. We are genuinely excited to be able to provide the opportunity, for anyone starting out in the care sector, to learn about the 15 standards of care, that are so vital for working within the industry and providing quality care. Not only that it provides a great refresher for those more experienced workers too.

To celebrate the launch of iHASCO being able to offer the complete online training package we wanted to have a chat with some real life carers and find out about their experiences within the sector. We also gave them full access to our care certificate training courses to see what they thought of them! 

We spoke to Debbie, a Carer from Surrey, in the second blog of our two-part series.

How did you get into the care industry?

About 24 years ago, I was looking for a job that fitted in with my family life, as I was looking after a 5-year-old and an 8-year-old and had to fit a job around a morning school run. I loved the idea of helping out local elderly/vulnerable people, and I found a job that allowed me to help them with their day-to-day tasks like picking up medication and shopping.

It was an extremely fulfilling job from day 1 and since then I’ve always wanted to stay working in the care sector.

I’ve been at my current job for three years now!

What is your favourite part about working as a carer?

My favourite part about working as a carer is being able to interact with the residents in the care home. I sometimes feel bad because it’s mutually beneficial - I make their day by keeping them company and looking after them, and seeing them smile makes my day… but they don’t get paid for that!             

What is the most challenging aspect of your role?

I think the most challenging aspect of my role is keeping up with the challenges that residents face. Their needs are always changing and it’s very difficult to keep up with it.

How has the Covid-19 pandemic affected your role?

I’m lucky to say that we haven’t been directly affected by the Coronavirus, but it certainly has changed a few things around the care home.

Team meetings have become a lot more frequent, we now have to change into our uniform when we get to work and get changed out of our uniform before we leave.

However, a lot of the focus is keeping up with procedures that existed before COVID-19, like washing our hands thoroughly and keeping hygienic!

It’s also quite a challenge to not worry the residents about the pandemic. Obviously, we don’t want to suppress what is going on outside the care home, but we know it’s up to us to prevent any of that from entering the care home!

Have you completed the care certificate?

Yes I have completed all the modules that are part of the Care Certificate Standards.

We use a blended learning approach that incorporates both face-to-face learning and eLearning.

Have you had any previous experience with eLearning for your role in care? 

As previously explained, we use a blended approach to training at my care home - and eLearning plays a big role in our training. Both methods of learning provide their own unique challenges, but my personal view is that they work hand-in-hand with each other. It’s nice to learn with a group of your colleagues, but it’s sometimes nice to be in a peaceful environment to take in information.

What impressed you most about our online Care Certificate courses?

I’ve undertaken some of iHASCO’s Care Certificate courses and they have been fantastic!

I’ve never found myself so engaged with a training course and excited to see what awaits on the next slide.

It’s broken down so well that I almost feel like I don’t need to take notes, but they still make this easy to do as you can go back and rewatch anything you might have missed.

I think the thing that impressed me the most about iHASCO was that you could easily take away all of the information from the course. It’s a fantastic mix of animations, handy features, and easy to use.

Is there anything that surprised you about our eLearning courses?

I was very surprised and impressed about how short the courses were - I’m not sure how iHASCO can fit so much valuable information into such a short course. I could’ve spent hours reading an article on these topics, but iHASCO’s training meant that I didn’t have to!

Would you be happy for eLearning to be a regular part of training in your role? 

Given that I already use eLearning in my workplace, I would be mortified if we took it out of our training plan. I think there is enough room for both ways of training, and they each have different benefits that work alongside each other.

If you missed part 1 you can read it here, where we spoke to Becca, a carer from Surrey.

Interested in online training with iHASCO?

iHASCO are offering a cost effective package for those requiring the 15 Care Certificate courses, providing access to these courses for as little as £2 per course, per person. iHASCO are a Skills for Care Endorsed Learning and Development Provider, so users can have confidence in the content and quality of these courses. The 15 courses can be completed online, in under 8 hours, but at the learners own pace and convenience. You can read more about the care certificate here. 

Request a free trial or call a member of our friendly team to discuss how eLearning can help your organisation.