There is a strong need for certified nursing assistants or nurse aides throughout the state of Pennsylvania. People are living longer, and more people are choosing to use assisted living care rather than long-term care facilities for longer periods of time. People in assisted living care need help with activities of daily living and don’t require the more advanced services of nurses needed by those in long-term care. The people most often found working in assisted living care centers are nurse aides.
The Nurse Aide Training: Teaching the Educator (TTE) Workshop offered through the Professional Personnel Development Center (PPDC) in the College of Education offers workshops throughout the year in which nurses can become certified to teach in nurse aide training programs. Nurse aides become certified after a maximum of 120 hours of training in programs offered by career and technical centers and long-term care facilities. The College of Education is helping prepare qualified RNs and LPNs to teach in these programs.
The four-day workshop is offered once a month, 10 months out of the year, in locations all over the state. In 2010, the workshop is being offered in Harrisburg,
Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Indiana, Mercer, Scranton, and Altoona, among other locations. The need for nurse aides can be stronger in certain geographic locations. For example, earlier this summer, the PPDC offered the workshop in Towanda, Pa., after being asked by a local hospital there to provide the program.
“Apparently the need is great there," said Kim Germino, director of the program. "They used to have a few nurse aide training programs in that area, which were closed in past years. These programs are now attempting to start up again, and they are in need of trainers for the programs.”
Germino continued, “Approximately 200 to 250 nurses earn the credential from our program each year, yet we continue to see an ongoing need for qualified individuals to teach in these programs to train new nurse aides.”
The TTE Program is just one of many programs offered by PPDC in the College of Education. PPDC is funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. For more than 30 years, PPDC has offered unique opportunities for skilled individuals to become certified to teach those skills to others in schools and career and technical centers.
For more information on the TTE program, visit the website at www.ed.psu.edu/educ/tte