Foundation Course in Dementia

My only concern would be , who would oversee the training from a practical perspective, In my experience when it comes to observations from nvq assessors or in house trainers the emphasis is on numbers and quota's. this is the biggest obstacle to creating the environment to make long lasting changes to the attitudes of longer term carers. If it were ran by a dedicated team who are there to make the changes not just to further their career or earn bonuses then that would be something I would love to see and promote.

Good point. Can you expand on this. Thanks

Thanks for this. Can you expand on who you think should be in a dedicated
team? For example should there be a team of volunteers with dementia
experience who would mentor individual students on a one to one basis?
Regards
Carol
01189756090 or 01189756090 (answerphone)


In a message dated 05/11/2010 22:28:51 GMT Standard Time,
[log in to view email address] writes:

My only concern would be , who would oversee the training from a practical
perspective, In my experience when it comes to observations from nvq
assessors or in house trainers the emphasis is on numbers and quota's. this is
the biggest obstacle to creating the environment to make long lasting
changes to the attitudes of longer term carers. If it were ran by a dedicated
team who are there to make the changes not just to further their career or
earn bonuses then that would be something I would love to see and promote.

that's exactly what I mean, we've all experienced the method of in house trainers who don't want the responsibility of the job , just signing off certificates, when needed. It needs to be training at a level that insists on progression, evidence based, and where practice is provable , tangible, not just ticking the boxes to show they understand but proof they have done it and shown it, as in ongoing mentor monitoring

perhaps it would be good to link in with and talk to the Univertisty of Bradford Dementia Care mapping network - they may have mappers who are also trained as NVQ assessors (such as myself) who may be able to support staff as students undertaking the training? - That way you have consistency of approach, and avoid the issues as described above?

I have just moved companies and discovered Bradfords courses, they look great and I can't believe I've never heard it mentioned before . Personally struggling though to get any response from bradford's registration team , would love to do their Ba in dementia thank you,

i would like this course to be monitored by the tutors from different departments like going according to the stande you are in . example for 6months tutors from college or in house trainers and last 6months final University tutors be involved,all they must include theory, practicals. thank you keep us updated we need more trainings and we like to understand more about dementia

I recently did a day long course in Dementia Awareness with a woman called Ginny who has years of experience and training in Dementia Care and it was absolutely brilliant! One day is like a drop in the ocean when it comes to dementia, but what she did show us really helped.

The day involved a mixture of lecture, videos and a fair bit of practical work, but rather than use Dementia sufferers, we practiced on each other. I thought this was a great approach as not only do you learn about Dementia, but you get to see things from the service users perspective.

For one part of the practical, we had to put our shoes on the wrong feet, wear goggles [which you could only see through a dusty dot on one side] and have white noise and voices playing loudy in the background. We then had to walk around the room trying not to fall over chairs and each other while Ginny shot around us, stealing scarves, jewellery, and threatening to undress us! It may not be the most realistic demonstration, but the first hand experience of being made vulnerable and being in someone else's care really makes you think about your approach to people and their reactions and not just those with Dementia. Ginny did return the items afterwards incase you were worried =]

Maybe that approach would work for a 1 year course? A classroom environment to start with, get a trainer in who really knows their stuff to deliver the criteria and use each other as guinea pigs until the trainer is confident that you're ready to be let loose with actual dementia suffers. Then you could have supervised practicals. It may even be a good idea to try and get someone with early onset dementia in to give talks from a personal perspective.

I'd love to know the outcome of this. I think it's riddiculous to think that you can "care" for Dementia sufferers with so-called on the job experience. So many carers job are advertised with the line "no experience neccesary, full training giving" and what does your training consist of? Some over-worked underpaid senior carer that stinks of cabbage and stale cigarettes saying "this is a wheelchair, this is a hoist, this is Betty Ballbreaker, goodluck!" And leaving you to it.

Okay I'm getting carried away now, but you get the idea. You're not allowed to touch inside a gas boiler unless you're fully trained and certified, so why are you allowed to touch a human being's life with nothing more than a CRB Check and a reference from your old boss in a shoe shop?

Oh but i don't agree with this, don't tar everyone with the same brush!

.>Manners of approach how we approach our old people with dementia
Do we respect them ? Where do we start on dignity?
I am a very caring person i like to help people with dementia
talking to them it makes my work easy , so respect is needed manners are needed. lets make this job become easy, understandable all this build the word dignity, are we doing this job because we need money?
I do this job in both ways money plus promotion of care ,respect,value, dignity, lets do our best to be one of those families Smile , be open , keep try to answer questions if asked,
Lets be keen to learn about our job those are the best tools, i I am looking foward to start university this year in health and community studies looking foward to do my social worker I a m sure i will be on dementia side help me to acherve my goals to promot our dignity in care

Well done Emma - was trying to say this in a longer way in my 2 emails

Lorraine

Sent from my iPhone

Dear All

I have been reading this discussion about the course that you have attended but
found useful. I am sorry to say in the long term this course is very harmful and
damaging Lorraine. YOu have done an antiquated old fashioned and prejudiced
course. It is not right to teach carers and nurses this kind of experience
anymore. You are being fed material which is 40 years old and useless. The
foundation course in dementia is just wrong. If you are interested I will hold a
free course for all of you interested in Dementia Care free of charge with
modern approaches which will stimulate thinking about dementia care in the 21st
century.

Interested?
Dr. Taleb Durgahee
Director
Palm Court and Keller House Centre of Excellence in Dementia Care
PREFERRED PROVIDER OF DEMENTIA CARE FOR EAST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL
Provides Nurse Education and Overseas Nurse Programme
In Collaboration With Brighton University

17-19 Prideaux Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN21 2ND
Tel: 01323 721911

www.palmcourtnursinghome.co.uk.........TOWARDS ZERO EMMISSIONS & SAVE A
TREE.Print this email only if required.

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made.

The dementia course you have is just WRONG

The Alzheimers-Tomorrow is another day training is really good up to date and very good for staff of all levels.
We also found the NCF course Dementia Awareness very good. A mix of the 2 would be a great course to be offered to staff. There is never enoughfunding for the Essential courses . we are very lucky in Sheffield to have a group of qualified specialist trainers to come into the home and offer training and advice to staff about individual residents.

in one, please god bring back matron, i only ever worked under one matron who was a lovely lady who loved the elderly, and god help the carer who said or did anything to upset her residents, every home should have one

Dementia is a terrible thing, but first of all, why do so many nurses in COTE wards assume that everyone in their ward suffers from it? I have seen some staff talk to all patients in their care as if they were children.
It is essential that nursing staff have training in dementia care. A one year course should be given to all new nurses. Having seen first hand how dementia patients are treated, I think those who are already working with such patients should be monitored until they have completed and passed a retraining course in the subject.
As far as the training course itself goes, it must include an opportunity for staff to experience first hand what a dementia sufferer feels like - they can be resentful of the nurses because they have lost their independence. I am sure the nurses would feel demoralised if it happened to them.
Before anyone asks what I did about the staff who were disrespectful to patients, I got together with my sister and presented a talk and video to all the COTE staff to show them how they were perceived by patients and relatives.
I agree with Diane about matrons - in hospitals and care homes.
What is the course that Taleb is advocating?

Dementia sufferers need specialist care and caters need modern training. So far what I hvae read in this forum, caters are receiving outdated outmoded training