Veterans and Home Care Why the Two Go Together

Home Care for Veterans

Needs Analysis

Training Goals and Specific Instructional Objectives

Location, Attendees, Time

Methods and Media

Training Evaluation Methods

Sample Lesson Plan

Home Care for Veterans

Home care for veterans is a much needed service today, as many VA hospitals no longer have the personnel to extend the kind of individualized care that so many veterans/patients require (Carter, Leach, 2011). Likewise, it is often the case that veterans cannot easily get to a hospital or doctor's office for care (Cole, 2014). Home care for veterans brings the services they need right to their home. It provides the quality and attention necessary for facilitating health and improving personal environments (Barry, 2000). This training and development program will provide participants with a better understanding of what home care is and how it works for veterans, as well as some of the tools and knowledge interested nurses will need to implement home care for veterans.

Needs Analysis

It became clear that the topic of home care for veterans needed to be addressed when so many hospitals began reporting an inability to meet the needs of patients due to understaffing and lack of resources/training programs (Lutwak, Dill, 2013). Home care presents itself as an affordable, alternative means of obtaining and providing care for veterans (Connor, 2009). Indeed, home care as an alternative to medical care is rapidly growing.

Figure 1. Figures for Health Care Positions.

Training Goals and Specific Instructional Objectives

The primary goal of this training program is to provide home care givers with the special and instructive materials they will need in order to provide first-rate home care to veterans. The aim is to direct participants to a fully-licensed training program that they can attend for licensure as well as to give insight to individuals who may be seeking information on the benefits of home care for veterans.

The secondary goal of this training and development program is to deepen home care givers' sense of what it means to truly provide home care on a personal level. In many ways, home care is the most personal medical assistance that a provider can give because it establishes a foundation for a support system that is built-in to the patient's life with as little inconvenience to the patient as possible.

Specific instructional objectives of this program will be to:

1) Highlight the main goals of the teaching program (defining home care, understanding treatment modalities, expanding support system concepts)

2) Deepen and broaden trainees' commitment to home care for veterans

3) Support the rationale for the need for more home care for veterans as an alternative to hospital care

Location, Attendees, Time

The location of the training program is to be in the local Ramada conference hall, which has room for 120, comfortably seated. The attendees are to be individuals interested in home care for veterans, whether they are already practicing nurses or simply interested in the option of receiving home care for a loved one. The time is to be in the morning from 9 am to 11 am with a break for lunch and an afternoon session from 12:30 PM to 3 pm.

The training profile of this seminar is broad in the sense that this program and development concept is meant to appeal to a variety of individuals -- not just nurses but also care givers as well as individuals interested in receiving care. So the audience is expected to be diverse in terms of professionals and non-professionals. The purpose of this diversity is multifold:

First, a diverse audience brings a range of character and experience to the conference. This allows for a convergence of minds and discussion opportunities from which individuals can gain first-hand insight into wants, needs, and capabilities of others (whether in the nursing, home care giving field, or care receivers category).

Second, it grants an opportunity for both dimensions/sides of the subject of home care for veterans to gather in one place, which enables them to "feel" one another out: it enables those interested in providing home care to meet with those interested in receiving home care and vice versa. This facilitates contact among groups and paves the way for future growth in terms of those contracting home care and those providing it.

Third, the training population should consist of both those interested in giving and those interested in receiving care so that the two sides are on the same page in terms of what should be expected. Thus, the training and development program is not geared towards elitism (only nurses should attend, etc.) but rather towards inclusivity, which is essential to building the sort of support structure so important and necessary for home care in the long run (Holmes, 2001).

Essentially the program is geared towards highlighting what is unique and important about home care for veterans as well as why it is a necessary, good and important option to have on the table for both care givers and care providers.

Methods and Media

Methods and media to be used in this presentation were chosen for a variety of reasons. First, these methods include narrative information, in which information is conveyed by way of anecdote and story. This method was chosen because compelling narratives tend to stick with people longer than the simple regurgitation of statistics and facts (Holmes, 2005). Another method of conveying information is to begin a session with a significant fact that is meant to astound -- such as the percentage of care seekers vs. the percentage of care providers regarding veterans who are actually getting what they need.

The means of conveying this information is to be multi-varied: large, colorful charts are always good to use when discussing facts, numbers and significant data. Likewise, posters of individuals from the real world who have received or who have provided home care for veterans helps to put a human face on an abstract idea and gives a real world context to the presentation. Third, video footage can be used to provide a visual and auditory impression, that public speaking cannot completely convey. This is to be used sparingly, however, and only in cases where relevant information cannot be conveyed by the speaker himself (such as when a particular visual effect is desired -- like a patient's documented transformation over time thanks to home care: for example, initial footage depicts the veteran in a poor state but over the next several weeks and months his/her state improves drastically as a result of home care. Footage like this provides a dramatic supporting subtext for the overall aim of the presentation, which is that home care is effective and works). Lastly, the speaker is the most important means of presentation, so he/she should be committed, convinced, and passionate about the subject and able to make others passionate about it as well (Holmes, 2005).

Training Evaluation Methods

Training will be evaluated through Kirkpatrick's (1959) four-level set of examination gauges that are geared towards measuring the following:

1) Reaction

2) Learning

3) Behavior

4) Results

The levels measure (1) how well the audience enjoyed participating in the learning process; (2) whether they learned anything, (3) whether it affected their performance/approach; and (4) whether there are any tangible results. This information will be gathered by a survey conducted in the weeks following the conclusion of the program. The questionnaire will include the following questions and utilize the Likert scale (Lewis-Beck, Bryman, Liao, 2004), which provides a rating system from 1 to 5 for respondents to use. This method is helpful in supplying quantitative analysis. The questions to be asked are:

1) Did you like the presentation?

2) How educational was it for you?

3) Would you recommend this presentation for anyone interested in home care for veterans?

4) Do you feel that this presentation improved your job or choice in seeking care overall?

5) How would you rate the impact this presentation had on you?

There could also be the possibility of providing a qualitative questionnaire, which would include open-ended questions and allow the respondent to elaborate on any points that he/she felt to be important.

Sample Lesson Plan

Day 1: Why Home Care?

Home care is unique because it truly puts the patient first.

Home care is important because it works at providing individualize care and a support system infrastructure that can bring about rapid positive changes in the patient's health. Testimonials are to be included via the video screen from around the country of veterans who have received home care and really appreciated the results and the difference it has made in their lives.

Special: Nutritional and Mental Health

Break

What is typical home care? Looking ahead:

What it consists of:

Bathing

Dressing

Medication Reminders

Meal Prep

Transporting Patients

Help with transferring from bed

Light Housework (laundry, dusting, vacuuming, dishes)

Oftentimes most important: Companionship (this will be emphasized especially throughout the week)

What will be covered over the course of the week.

Why home care for veterans is particularly important. Veterans return to civilian life after undergoing a culture conversion so to speak: they are raised to be military servicemen and women by the military, which includes culture conditioning. Returning to civilian life after their service can be a culture shock because of the obvious differences in lifestyles (less discipline, less clearly defined objects, less significant hierarchy, a great deal more freedom to do as one pleases). This can cause serious problems for veterans who are in need of care and do not know how to or cannot provide for themselves (Hammen, 2005).

Figure 2. Who Pays for Home Care.

Day 2: How Home Care for Veterans is Different from Hospital Care

Who Pays for It?

Individualized Care and Attention

The comfort of one's own home

Special: CPR Training

Break

Being in a familiar, comfortable setting is conducive to recovery and health

More time for in-depth attention.

Sometimes visits to the doctor can be rushed and there is not enough time to really get into what matters.

Sometimes patients don't even have the strength and desire to leave the home to receive care in the first place.

If a patient has no legs, that does not mean he is out of luck in terms of getting care. No, instead, the care must use its legs to go to him.

If a patient is down, home care providers can help to lift him up.

Better opportunity to have needs met.

Day 3: Is Home Care for Everyone?

No. For Providers, it requires a special desire to assist in a more personal, familial way.

For receivers, it requires a willingness to be administered to in a more informal setting and in a more intimate manner.

Special: Handling Change: How to Help Vets Cope

Break

What Should Home care practitioners know?

The ins-and-outs of home care for veterans.

What are the most common forms of care?

Group Discussion (Informal with Q&A)

Figure 3. Referrals to Home Care.

Summary

What I learned while compiling this program was the importance of planning the event so that the particular sessions move the audience towards the main goal. This means, first, that one must know one's audience and for whom the presentation is intended. By identifying the participants, the presenter is able to tailor appropriately. While it may seem at first as though one is limiting oneself by appealing to only a select group, what I realized was that by appealing to a select group of participants, the presentation actually opens up and becomes deeper and fuller and full of more meaningful impact thanks to the parameters. Second, it means that the main goal must be clearly perceived at all times by the presenter so that everything is constantly moving towards that. This cuts down on excess information or superfluous data.

A second thing I learned while preparing this presentation was the importance of group discussion as a way to get participants really involved. Activities and learning seminars are good -- but where things really come to life is with the group discussion, when persons from all walks of life come together to discuss. What I liked best about this presentation was that it reduced the discussion to a very informal session so that the presenter could steer it and answer any questions but allow the participants to voice questions and concerns at the same time. It is in many ways the most potentially illuminating aspect of the presentation for me.