Personal Support Worker-2025/2026
| Mandatory | ||||
| Take all of the following Mandatory Courses: | ||||
| HLTH-1092 | Foundations of Personal Support | 2 | ||
| In this course, the student is introduced to the role of the Ontario Personal Support Worker (PSW) and the scope of practice for the PSW within the health care system. Through class discussion, seminars, lectures, the student will explore confidentiality and privacy, client rights and boundaries, ethical issues, professional behavior, and legislation involving the health care system. | ||||
| HLTH-1093 | Health & Wellness | 5 | ||
| Students will be introduced to core concepts and skills: providing compassionate care to all; growth and development throughout the life span; food safety, meal planning and feeding; assisting with mobility, positioning, lifts and transfers; ensuring safety in both homes and institutions; personal hygiene and grooming; infection control; caring for mothers, infants, children and the elderly; abuse; and documentation. The individual's rights to safety, dignity, respect, privacy and confidentiality will be emphasized. | ||||
| HLTH-1094 | Self & Others for PSW | 3 | ||
| In this course, the student will examine self, personal beliefs and values as well as explore the concept of the helping relationship and interpersonal relationships with others. Knowledge, skills and attitudes for career and college success will also be developed. | ||||
| HLTH-1095 | Human Body Structure & Function | 3 | ||
| This course is designed to introduce the beginning personal support worker to the structure and basic function of the human body. Discussion will center on the normal and will include age related changes that occur across the lifespan. Medical terminology will be used throughout the course enabling the student to begin to develop a basic scientific vocabulary that will grow over time. | ||||
| HLTH-1096 | PSW Laboratory Practice | 1 | ||
| This course is designed to introduce the basic skills involved with activities of daily living (ADLs). When taken concurrently with Clinical Practice I, the student has opportunities to practice in both clinical and laboratory settings. Throughout this course, emphasis is placed on respecting the client's need for privacy, confidentiality, as well as for dignity, preferences, safety and respect. | ||||
| HLTH-1098 | Life Transitions | 2 | ||
| This course is focused on selected life transitions or passages from one way of living to another. These life transitions include illness, rehabilitation, admission to a long-term care setting, and death and dying. Supportive personal care for special needs children and individuals with developmental disabilities is also included. The role of the personal support worker in household management is explored. Health promotion, a value that upholds clients' and families' rights to make choices and have a sense of control about their health situation and lifestyle, is emphasized throughout the course. | ||||
| HLTH-1099 | Ongoing Health Challenges | 2 | ||
| In this course, students study how to care for clients with a variety of health challenges. The impact of specific chronic illnesses and / or disabilities throughout the lifespan is discussed, as well as ways PSWs can support individuals and their families with these chronic health challenges. In addition, assisting with medication administration is introduced. The individual's rights to safety, dignity, respect, privacy, and confidentiality are emphasized throughout this course. | ||||
| HLTH-1100 | Mental Health & Cognitive Impairment | 2 | ||
| In this course, students will be introduced to those illnesses referred to as, 'Mental Illness, Mental Health Disorders, Emotional Illness and Psychiatric Disorders,' with a special emphasis on Cognitive Disorders. Mental health disorders can affect all aspects of a person's life: the physical, emotional, spiritual, social and intellectual.This course will examine mental illness and cognitive impairment with an emphasis on appreciating the lived experience of the client, and what it means to the person who is living with a mental illness, and how to care for people experiencing mental disorders, cognitive impairment, or dementia. | ||||
| HLTH-3047 | PSW Laboratory Practice 2 | 1 | ||
| This lab practice course is designed to build on the skills learned in HLTH-1096 PSW Laboratory Practice. In this course, the student integrates learned theory and skills while participating in a hands-on learning environment within a simulated practice setting. This type of experiential and active learning simulates the reality of a clinical long-term care and community setting while providing a risk-free learning environment for students to demonstrate critical thinking and judgment skills without fear of harming the client. | ||||
| HLTH-1252 | PSW Clinical Preparation | 2 | ||
| This course prepares students for the PSW Clinical Professional Practice course in a risk-free learning environment by introducing them to concepts such as confidentiality, safety, organizational skills, critical thinking, problem-solving, advocacy, and communication. Through the use of simulations, standardized patients, classroom discussion, and hands-on lab practice, students will have an opportunity to learn how to use critical thinking and judgment skills without fear of harming an actual client. | ||||
| HLTH-3054 | PSW Clinical Professional Practice | 6 | ||
| This practical course enable students to apply all of the skills and concepts learned in the PSW Clinical Preparation course, the classroom and laboratory by providing care for residents in a long-term care setting. In this course, students are first introduced to the role and responsibilities of the PSW while providing basic care and appropriate communication to clients and the health care team, and through practice, they eventually are expected to synthesize learned knowledge and continue to provide safe, competent care for an increasing number of clients. During this course, students will be introduced to the afternoon/evening shift at their clinical agencies, in order to understand of the challenges that face clients throughout the day and evening periods. The student must satisfactorily display competence in all five domains in order to progress into the PSW Consolidation Professional Practice course. | ||||
| HLTH-3055 | PSW Consolidation Professional Practice | 3.75 | ||
| This consolidation practicum will enable the student to work both independently and as part of the team while enhancing their problem-solving and critical thinking within a PSW's scope of practice. The student will be expected to demonstrate all acquired skills in a consistent and competent manner as well as confidentiality, safety, organization, communication, and documentation while caring for a variety of clients in a long-term care setting during days, evenings and midnight shifts. Students must display reliability and accountability at all times throughout this course by following the policies, rules and regulations of both Fanshawe College and the host agency. | ||||
| HLTH-3056 | PSW Prof Practice Community Setting | 6 | ||
| This practicum course enables the student to work both independently and as part of the team in the care of individuals and families at various stages of the life cycle in a community setting, while refining their problem-solving and critical thinking abilities. The student, acting within the role of a PSW, will be expected to demonstrate all acquired skills in a consistent and competent manner as well as confidentiality, safety, organization, communication, and documentation while caring for a variety of clients. Students must display reliability and accountability at all times throughout this course, by following the policies, rules and regulations of both Fanshawe College and the host agency. Shift work may be expected during this practicum. | ||||
| COMM-1133 | Professional Communications for PSW | 3 | ||
| This course develops written and oral communication skills for students in the personal support worker field. Students demonstrate the ability to write multiple examples of workplace materials. The principles of effective writing - organization, grammar, style, clarity, and tone - are reinforced throughout the course. The focus is on research writing, career development including building a portfolio, professionalism in the students' field, and communication strategies to deal effectively with different demographics. In preparing promotional materials to market themselves in the PSW field, researching and documenting current issues, and delivering short presentations to their peer groups, students gain skills in effective workplace communication. | ||||
| Program Residency | ||||
| Students Must Complete a Minimum of 11 credits in this program at Fanshawe College to meet the Program Residency requirement and graduate from this program | ||||