Professional Caregiver Course
Get certified with a fully-online course
- Study from home on your own schedule!
- Learn how to freelance or run your own business.
- Get a complete education and become certified in as little as three months!
Save an extra $100 on your professional caregiver course tuition.
This discount will be automatically applied when you enroll.
Tuition &
Payment Plans
Includes everything you need to get certified!
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What Is a Caregiver?
A caregiver is a very important part of a person's homecare team. You'll be on the front lines every day to help clients maintain their independence and wellbeing. You'll help them with daily tasks they may have trouble completing on their own.
As a caregiver, your duties can include any or all of the following:
- Providing companionship and helping to keep clients engaged in their communities
- Helping clients with daily personal care tasks including bathing and dressing
- Helping clients perform general housekeeping duties including cleaning, laundry, dishes, etc.
- Organizing and/or providing transportation to appointments, outings, etc.
- Grocery shopping and/or meal preparation
Note that caregivers are not healthcare professionals and do not provide medical services.
You might hear different terms used to refer to caregivers, depending on where you live. Other common job titles for “caregiver” include, but are not limited to:
- Attendant Care Worker
- Direct Care Worker
- Direct Service Worker
- Home Attendant
- Home Care Aide
- Home Services Worker
- In-Home Aide
- Personal Care Aide
- Personal Care Services Worker
- Personal Services Attendant
- Personal Support Specialist
- Supportive Home Assistant
If you are looking to become a temporary caregiver for your loved one and not a professional caregiver, QC also offers an informal caregiver course.
Basic Requirements for Becoming a Caregiver
Caregiving is a highly rewarding career. As an integral part of your clients' wellness teams, you're there every day to put smiles on their faces and to help them maintain healthy and productive lives. If you genuinely enjoy helping people and are willing to advocate for your clients at every turn, this can be the perfect career for you.
It's always a good idea to check local regulations before starting a new profession. Currently, the United States has no standardized licensing requirements or training regulations for caregivers who work independently. “Independent” means that they are employed directly by their clients and bill clients directly.
Successful caregivers all exhibit similar traits. Do you have what it takes?
Empathy & Compassion — You're always able to put yourself in your clients' shoes to understand their situations. You genuinely care about people and want to help in any way you can.
Good Communication Skills — You're able to clearly and effectively communicate with clients, family members and other professionals. You advocate in your clients' best interests. You're patient and careful when you choose your words.
Physical Stamina — You're ready to work hard and have the physical strength to help your clients with mobility issues. You know your own limitations. You are ready to turn down a client if you know you won't have the physical ability to properly care for him or her.
Integrity & Discretion — You understand the importance of respecting your clients' privacy while working in their homes and helping them with sensitive tasks. You're discreet and would never dream of betraying a client's trust!
What You'll Learn
In this highly interactive self-paced training course, you'll learn about:
- The roles & responsibilities of a Caregiver
- Performing a client consultation
- Working with a care plan
- Health & safety considerations
- Special considerations for different types of clients
- Using a holistic approach to improve a client's health & wellness
- Maintaining your own physical & emotional health
- Activities of Daily Life (ADLs) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs)
- Identifying & dealing with signs of abuse
- Understanding the human body, disabilities, and impairments
- Starting your own caregiving business
How You'll Learn
QC's signature online learning experience is designed for highly motivated and ambitious individuals!
You'll learn at your own pace, with the help of your student advisor and your expert tutor. They will be with you every step of the way!
- Follow the course guide, which will tell you when you need to read a course book, watch a video or complete an assignment.
- Complete a variety of assignments including knowledge quizzes, open-ended discussions and comprehensive real-world case studies where you experience what it's like to be a professional caregiver.
- Upload your completed assignments to the Online Student Center.
- Your tutor will grade your work and provide feedback on every assignment.
- Graduate once you've completed all your course units and your tuition has been paid in full.
Why Choose QC?
Get certified faster and start a fulfilling career!
Affordable
QC's course is fully online. You don't have to pay surcharges for attending lectures or classroom sessions. You complete the full course from home.
Flexible
No start dates, no deadlines, no mandatory attendance! This course is completely self-directed and self-paced. Get certified quickly or take your time. The choice is yours.
Comprehensive
You're not just learning how one caregiving company wants you do things. You're getting a foundation of knowledge in caregiving that will be useful no matter where you work!
Included in Your Course
Assignments & Personalized Feedback
Complete assignments quickly and efficiently in the Online Student Center. Our expert tutor will evaluate your work and provide personalized audio feedback. Your tutor will share industry tips giving you a huge advantage as you're beginning your career.
Student Advisor Support
In addition to your personal tutor, you'll be able to get help from QC's expert team of student advisors and teaching assistants. Any time you have questions about your course, student account, certification, or anything else, you can reach out to your QC Student Advisor by phone, email, or live chat. Advisors are available 7 days/week to help you through your course.
Business Training
You'll learn how to set up your business, create pricing packages, market your services and more. You'll also have access to all your lessons and assignments, which are regularly updated with the newest and most up-to-date content. You'll also have access to custom business templates to help you work with clients effectively!
Certification & Professional Designation
Once you graduate, you'll be sent your certificate by mail. The certification allows you to put the Formal Caregiving Professional (FCGP™) designation on your business cards, website, resume, and more. Get a certification that's noticed and respected.
Full Course Outline
Here's a detailed outline of all the topics you'll study in your caregiver certification course.
Unit A: Introduction to Caregiving
In this first unit, you'll learn what it means to be a caregiver. You'll learn the details of the job, and how you'll interact with clients. Just as importantly, you'll see the duties you WON'T be expected to complete as a caregiver. You'll then learn how to perform your initial client consultation. You'll focus on the information you'll need to collect, and how to evaluate safety needs for each client. Finally, you'll learn how to establish and work with a detailed care plan for every client you take on.
- What is a caregiver
- Key skills & personality traits for caregivers
- Workplaces you'll encounter
- Roles & responsibilities of a caregiver
- Types of clients
- Client care models
- Working as a caregiver:
- Certifications & education
- Career paths
- Expanding into healthcare
- Where to begin
- Performing a Client Consultation:
- Information to gather
- Building a connection
- Handling personal information
- Evaluating safety requirements & identifying concerns
- Working with a Care Plan:
- Working with an established care plan
- Creating a care plan with your client
- Working without a care plan
Unit B: Working with Clients
Now that you have a good idea of your role as a caregiver, you'll start to learn how to put that knowledge to use when working with clients. You'll see how to help clients with everyday challenges. You'll learn how to establish professional boundaries with your clients while still developing meaningful relationships. These can be tricky skills to master! Later in the unit, you'll focus on understanding a client's unique needs based on his or her personal challenges.
- Professionalism in a personal setting
- Appropriate client relationships
- Professional boundaries
- Language considerations:
- Using inclusive language
- Using "people first" language
- Exclusionary language to avoid
- Discrimination
- Working with aging clients
- Common caregiver tasks for aging clients
- Challenges of Aging
- Common conditions you'll encounter (dementia, arthritis, etc.)
- Working with clients with disabilities, medical conditions or impairments
- Working with children
- Working with clients recovering from injuries or surgery
- Working with clients with mental health issues or special needs
- Working with new mothers
Unit C: Working as a Caregiver
In Unit C, you'll dive into the services you'll offer as a caregiver and you'll start developing the skills you need. Whether you plan on providing all these services once you start your business, it's important to have the full range of skills you'll need as a successful caregiver. You'll also explore the different workplace settings available to you as a caregiver. For example, you might choose to work for a caregiving agency, a retirement home or to start your own caregiving business.
- Defining your scope of practice
- Medical support & dealing with medical emergencies
- Providing companionship
- Soft skills for caregivers
- Activities of daily living (ADLs)
- Mobility
- Dressing
- Bathing & showering
- General hygiene
- Toileting
- Eating
- Instrumental activities of daily living (ADLs)
- Transportation
- Shopping
- Cooking
- Home management & maintenance
- Household supply management
- Financial management
- Communication
- End of life care
- Holistic health & wellness
- Keeping a care log
- Maintaining your own health & wellness
- Comminity-based settings
- Working in an assisted living community
- Types of communities
- Working with community-based programs
- Challenges and safety considerations
- Outings in the community
- Facility-based settings
- Working in a facility-based setting
- Challenges and safety considerations
- Types of facilities
Unit D: Technical Skills
This highly practical unit is where you'll learn about the technical skills any caregiver needs before helping a client with personal care tasks. Caregivers are sometimes required to help with basic daily tasks such as dressing, toileting, bathing/showering or helping their client move around. You'll learn methods that will keep you safe and that ensure you preserve your client's dignity as you perform these delicate tasks.
- Mobility
- Using a transfer board
- Using a transfer belt
- Helping a client who uses a cane
- Helping a client who uses a walker
- Transferring a client to a wheelchair or scooter
- Moving your client in bed
- Dressing
- Helping your client put on/take off a shirt
- Helping your client put on/take off socks and shoes
- Helping your client put on/take off pants
- Helping your client put on/take off underwear
- Toileting
- Helping your client use a toilet
- Helping your client use a portable commode
- Helping your client use a bedpan
- Helping your client who wears protective underwear
- Bathing and Showering
- Helping your client have a bath
- Helping your client have a shower
- Helping your client have a bed bath (sponge bath)
- Helping your client shampoo their hair
- Bathing and Showering
- Hand washing
- Oral hygiene
- Shaving
- Brushing, combing, styling your client's hair
- Nail and foot care
- Eating
Unit E: Client Scenarios
In Unit E, you'll learn about challenging situations and how to handle each one. You'll use the scenarios outlined in your course text as a guide to help you start thinking like a professional caregiver. Then you'll complete scenario-based assignments to practice interacting with clients in challenging situations.
- Accompanying a client on a community outing
- Helping your client attend a physiotherapy session
- Going for a walk with your client
- Helping your client in a medical emergency
- Challenging situations:
- Working with multiple clients
- When a client doesn't want your help
- Grieving clients
- Difficult clients
- Setting professional boundaries
- Dealing with discrimination
- Dealing with suspected abuse
Unit F: Business Training Unit
If you plan on launching your own caregiving business, don't skip this essential final unit! You'll work through the specific elements of getting your business off the ground. You'll learn how to set your prices and how to find your first clients. You'll also learn how to build your website, market your services and much more. This unit will help you launch your career in high gear!
- Creating a business model
- Identifying the services you will provide
- Identifying the core values of your business
- Naming your business
- Creating a business plan
- Assessing needs in your community: Needs, competition, and gaps in the market
- Defining your methods and plans
- Setting your prices, packages, and now to incentivize returning customers or customer referrals
- Setting up business infrastructure
- Creating your website
- Your social media presence
- Traditional print resources (books, pamphlets, etc.)
- Setting up your business space
- Creating materials
- Setting limits: Minimum/maximum number of clients, outlining your budget and expected income
- Creating realistic business goals
- Ethical considerations & legal obligations of reporting suspected abuse
- Certification requirements & service restrictions
- Professional associations & organizations
- Client contracts & other legal documents
- Insurance considerations
- Health care training: CPR, first aid, and other certifications to consider
- Branding: Creating an effective brand, personalizing your brand, and using your brand to sell your business
- Finding clients
- How clients find you (Print/Web/Social Media)
- How to advertise your services
- How to find clients (online and in person)
- Tips for advertising
- Learning your clientele
- Where to advertise
- Effective advertising for small businesses
- Advertising budgets
- Your website and social media presence
- How to build an effective website
- How to start a business using social media
- Keys to an effective online presence
- Community outreach: Community events, groups, and online groups and events
- Partnering: Identifying key partners, developing relationships with local businesses, and creating joint advertising with other small businesses
Your Caregiving Tutors
When you enroll, you'll be assigned one of QC's expert tutors. Your tutor will be responsible for grading your work and providing feedback on your assignments.
Suzanne Irvine
Suzanne is a retired registered nurse with over 35 years of experience in the health care sector. She has extensive experience teaching caregivers of all kinds, including nurses, personal support workers and more. During her career in the wellness industry, Suzanne also worked as a disability case manager, assisting clients to return to work when ready. She loves to help students develop successful careers!
Aly Lalonde
Aly worked extensively as a personal support worker in the community as well as in a residence. She is also a registered nurse with expertise in emergency medicine, dialysis, and public health. Aly understands how caregiving and healthcare professionals work together to help their clients. She'll help you with your career as a caregiver and she'll show you how to work effectively with healthcare professionals. She has an amazing breadth of hands-on experience and is a trusted advisor to QC students.
Your Professional Caregiver
Certification
Once you successfully complete the course, you'll receive your Formal Caregiving Professional (FCGP™) certificate. This certification is yours forever and doesn't expire. Use it as proof of competency with clients and/or employers. Your professional designation is a great way to set yourself apart from the competition. Display it proudly on your business cards, marketing materials, website, and anywhere else you advertise your services!
Your Guarantee
Starting a new career can be scary but don't worry!
Once you enroll in QC's Professional Caregiver Course, you'll be protected by a
21-day money-back guarantee!
21-Day Guarantee
Once your enrollment has been processed, you have 21 days to review the course materials and decide whether you want to take the course. If you decide this course isn't the right course for you, simply contact the school for a refund! As long as you haven't submitted any work to your tutor yet, your tuition will be refunded in full!
Additional information on QC's money back guarantees is available in your enrollment agreement.
Enroll Today
Start your caregiving training today
and launch an exciting, rewarding career!