Unit 1: From Classroom to Clinical Rotation
Just like members of a football team work together to score a touchdown, a health care team strives to reach a common goal, too—promoting health. Health care teams comprise multiple people in various roles who all work collaboratively either to prevent disease, cure illness, and/or promote wellness in individuals and communities across the globe. You may be surprised to learn that the members of a health care team also include patients and their families. Get ready to meet the members of the health care team that you will be working with in this course! You will also begin to explore multiple careers in allied health so that you will have a better understanding of what exciting paths you might embark on as you prepare for the workforce!
What will you learn in this unit?
- Understand the histories of the four patients who will be followed throughout the course
- Identify the scope of practice for various members of the interdisciplinary healthcare team
- Explain communication and its role in healthcare
- Demonstrate an understanding of confidentiality and a patient’s right to privacy
Unit 2: Safety First: Individual and Public Responsibilities
Regardless of how far research and technology have come over the past two decades in eradicating disease, bacteria will always exist, and new illnesses will always develop. How these new and existing infectious diseases are managed is crucial to maintaining the health of the population. The safety and security of patients as well as care team members rely on multiple factors. It’s time to explore how infectious disease transmission can be controlled and contained at the local, community, and global levels. You will also have the opportunity to examine the roles of health care providers across multiple disciplines.
What will you learn in this unit?
- Implement standard precautions and infectious disease control measures
- Maintain a safe work environment
- Explain the scope of public health and epidemiology
- Compare and contrast the various regulatory bodies responsible for insuring the safety of health care providers
Unit 3: Helping Patients With Hygiene
One of the most effective ways to protect ourselves from illness is to maintain personal hygiene. Many individuals require assistance with performing everyday activities, including personal hygiene. Adequate personal hygiene is also an important part of promoting self-confidence, dignity, and an overall sense of well-being. Together, we’ll explore how you can support individuals in performing their own personal hygiene. You will also explore the roles of occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants. Ready? Let’s go!
What will you learn in this unit?
- Identify the scope of practice of an occupational therapy assistant
- Provide personal care and hygiene to patients with varying needs
- Educate patients on different types of adaptive equipment used in their care
- Support patients in the completion of their activities of daily living
Unit 4: Helping Patients With Eating and Dressing
While you may think about what you are going to eat and when, you are unlikely to think about how you are going to eat. Some individuals not only have to consider where their next meal is going to come from, what it might be, and how it will be prepared, but they also have to consider how they are going to eat it. A number of physical, financial, and emotional barriers may prohibit people from meeting their nutritional needs. Together, we will explore not only how you might support individuals with limitations to their food security, but also how you can facilitate their overall well-being by promoting nutrition and elimination.
What will you learn in this unit?
- Support a patient in activities of daily living (clothing care, food preparation, and money management)
- Explain the need for and employment of adaptive aids used for eating and dressing
- Compare and contrast common therapeutic diets
- Describe the care for patients with bowel and bladder elimination needs
Unit 5: Helping Patients With Ambulation
Mobility plays a huge role in a person’s physical and mental health. Allied health assistants work hard every day with people recovering from illnesses or injuries that have impaired their mobility. We’ll discover the enormous impact physical therapists have by helping patients meet their goals and make any necessary adaptations so that they can enjoy full and independent lives. And since so many people working in a health care setting help patients move in some manner, we’ll also dive into body mechanics and how being well-versed in this area can help protect both you and others. Well, what are you waiting for? Let’s get moving!
What will you learn in this unit?
- Discuss the scope of practice for rehabilitation services; services, including physical therapy
- Define disability and identify various types of abilities
- Demonstrate body mechanics that will ensure patient and personal safety
- Describe the various types of immobilization devices and the management of clients who use them
Unit 6: Mental Health, the Patient, and Furry Companions
Did you know that one in five people will cope with some type of mental illness at some point in his or her life? Because mental health plays such a huge role in living a balanced and happy life, it is crucial for allied health assistants to be able to understand and support their patients in this area. From assisting with medications to managing side effects and pain, we’ll explore what allied health assistants need to know. We’ll also discuss how companion animals can offer people a unique and special type of support.
What will you learn in this unit?
- Compare and contrast various mental illnesses
- Differentiate between physiological and mental pain
- Explore the use of opioids for pain management
- Examine the history and current state of the opioid crisis in the United States
- Discuss the use of companion animals and service animals for mental health support
- Describe the care required for service or companion animals
Unit 7: Care Across the Life Span
As an allied health assistant, you’re going to be in a position to care for people from birth to death, so it’s important to be aware of the normal developmental stages and the care required during each phase of life. After a review of the reproductive system and fetal development, we will move through all life stages. Lastly, you’ll learn about the development and care of the companion, service, and other animals that you may encounter or work with in research or therapy settings.
What will you learn in this unit?
- Explain the stages of growth and development across the life span
- Describe complementary and alternative medicinal therapies and how they are used during the various life stages
- Discuss end-of-life and postmortem care
- Compare and contrast the various types of abuse and the mandates for reporting them
Unit 8: Medical Office Administration
Medical office assistants have their finger on the pulse of an office, clinic, or unit in the hospital. They are expected to have knowledge of all components of the health care system and how to deliver safe patient care. Their roles may include taking health histories from patients, greeting patients, filing insurance claims or other billing, and doing medical transcription, among many other tasks. Sound overwhelming? Don’t worry – together we’ll review some of the major components of the medical office assistant’s roles and introduce some new ones.
What will you learn in this unit?
- Summarize the role of the medical office assistant (MOA) in preparing an examination room
- Measure routine vital signs and describe when alterations should be reported
- Demonstrate an understanding of basic medical terminology
- Understand what is required to create and submit a medical bill
- Describe the financial terms and procedures involved in operating a medical office practice
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