Home Care Clinician Training for COVID-19 Testing

About the Training Program

Under a grant from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, the Home Care Association of New York State Education & Research (HCA E&R), Iroquois Healthcare Alliance (IHA) and clinical faculty at the Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS) delivered web-based training for home health RNs and other personnel on COVID-19 testing procedures that were conducted at home.

This complimentary training was open to all home care personnel in New York State whose scope of practice permits testing (i.e., nurses and respiratory therapists). The program was offered until June of 2022. 

Why COVID-19 Testing in Home Care?

The risk of COVID-19 infection is greatest in the community, where home and community-based organizations serve the medical, social and assistive needs of nearly 900,000 patients throughout New York State. These include individuals with COVID-19 as well as New Yorkers at greatest risk: the elderly and persons with disabilities or suffering from a range of underlying, chronic health conditions.

To get tested for COVID-19, most individuals must leave their homes. For homebound patients and others in home care, this structure is not only inconducive but it’s also a potential danger to a patient’s health, especially if the only available testing option is to go to a congregate setting.

This initiative offered a path to testing-in-place for the safety of patients. It also promised more timely results for the protection of home care personnel taking every precaution against exposure through protocols specific to confirmed COVID-19 cases.

How it Works and How to Enroll

The course was hosted by the IHA HealthStream learning platform. Using this platform that program users the ability to:

• Take the COVID-19 Test training course.
• Print a certificate of completion for the course.
• Use any device to access the training (laptop, tablet, etc.)
• Enroll in other COVID-19 courses available through Healthstream at no cost.

 If you have any further questions after reading our Q&As please contact us at covid19@hcanys.org.