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FROM OUR TEAMS
Looking to the Future with our Patient Care Assistants

By Lenis Sosa, DNP, RN, CCRC

2 MIN READ
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Since patients are at the center of our care, the Patient Care Assistant (PCA) role at Houston Methodist is crucial for the future of nursing. Our nurses delegate tasks to the PCAs necessary to ensure patient safety and improve the quality of care. The Center for Nursing Research, Education and Practice (CNREP) offers different courses to support our PCAs and ensure they are trained appropriately.
PCAs are trained in new skills and technology during the quarterly enrichment program to help enhance their knowledge and care. The PCA Specialist Training Skills course is designed to assist PCA specialists in becoming preceptors and resources to newly hired PCAs to promote safety and high-quality patient care. Being involved with the shared governance committees is another way for PCAs to create changes to how we ensure quality patient care. PCA fall champions benefit our patients on every unit since PCAs are frequently at the bedside and can help assist with patient needs while preventing injuries. We want to see more PCAs involved in transforming patient mobility, quality, safety and infection control. This would allow the PCAs to conduct effective and intentional patient care to ensure and promote safety.
The more trained and prepared our PCAs are, the better the outcome for our patients. The kindness and dedication provided by our PCAs to our patients is outstanding. Looking at the future, we can see our PCAs collaborating with the nurses to provide excellent quality care to patients and families. We would like to see future PCAs involved in ensuring patient and family safety while building a culture of health. Being a system facilitator and collaborating with the multidisciplinary team to provide effective and equitable care is what we see as the future of the PCAs. What about you? Where do you see yourself five years from now?
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